Abstract:

Wood is an attractive renewable source of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuels production and pulping industry. One of the principal components of wood is cellulose, determining the morphology of plants and wood quality. In this study, we isolate seven cellulose synthase genes: PtoCesA4, PtoCesA5, PtoCesA7, PtoCesA8, PtoCesA13, PtoCesA17 and PtoCesA18 from Populus tomentosa by using RT-PCR and bioinformatics methods. A phylogenetic tree of Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Populus trichocarpa and P. tomentosa cellulose synthase gene superfamilies was constructed using the MEGA4.0 program. GenomeLab^TM GeXP genetic analysis showed that the transcription levels of PtoCesA17 and PtoCesA7 along with PtoCesA4, PtoCesA8 and PtoCesA18 were much higher in xylem than that in leaves in P. tomentosa, implying that these genes may function on secondary wall formation.

Key words: Populus tomentosa, cellulose synthase, GeXP, gene expression