SCIENTISTS have mapped the first complete genetic code of a tree, enhancing the prospects of using plants to produce renewable biofuels.

The genome of the black cottonwood poplar, Populus trichocarpa, would help the development of new, fast-growing and easily processed tree strains that could be harvested for producing fuels such as ethanol, scientists said yesterday.

Biofuels of this type are renewable because they do not create net emissions of carbon dioxide. Although burning them releases the greenhouse gas, the amount emitted is the same as that taken from the atmosphere by the plants used to make the fuel.

Fuels such as ethanol — fuel alcohol distilled from plant products — are also attractive because they can be home-grown and are usually liquids, making them suitable alternatives to petrol and diesel.

“Biofuels could provide a major answer to our energy needs by giving a home-grown, environmentally friendlier alternative to imported oil,” said Raymond Orbach, Under-Secretary for Science at the US Department of Energy, which partially funded the research.

“Fine-tuning plants for biofuels production is one of the keys to making biofuels economically viable and cost-effective. This research, employing the latest genomic technologies, is an important step on the road to developing practical, biologically based substitutes for gasoline and other fossil fuels.”

Gerald Tuskan, of the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who led the poplar study, said: “Biofuels emit fewer pollutants than fossil fuels such as gasoline. In addition, poplar and related plants are vital managers of atmospheric carbon. Trees store captured carbon dioxide in their leaves, bran-ches, stems and roots.

“This natural process provides opportunities to improve carbon removal from the air by producing trees that effectively shuttle and store more carbon below ground in their roots and the soil. Moreover, bioenergy crops reabsorb carbon dioxide emitted when biofuels are consumed, creating a cycle that is essentially carbon-neutral.”

The poplar genome, published today in the journal Science, will guide scientists towards genes that control critical characteristics of the tree. Researchers have identified 93 of the plant’s 45,000 genes associated with production of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose, chemicals that can be fermented to produce ethanol and other liquid fuels.

Manipulating these genes, by genetic engineering or selective breeding, could lead to the development of trees that produce higher quantities of biofuel. Sam Foster, of the US Forest Service, said: “Under optimal conditions, poplars can . . . reach maturity in as few as four years, permitting selective breeding for large-scale sustainable plantation forestry.”

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