Last year, the complete network of DNA in humans was decoded.
Just last month, that same genetic sequence - also known as a genome - was revealed for the first time in a species of tree.
The Black Cottonwood tree, commonly known as the poplar, was selected as a model species for the project partly due to its relatively small genome size, forestry Associate Professor Kyung-Hwan Han said.
Understanding the genome information for the poplar tree will help tree biologists learn more about its growth cycles, Han said.
He said he participated in the project as part of the International Populus Genome Consortium, a group of international scientists and researchers that work to map out genetic codes.
The majority of the work in sequencing the DNA was done by the U.S. Department of Energy, Han said, adding that he helped in identifying and naming the genes.
"This sequence will provide us with good tools in our study to better understand how trees grow and develop," he said.
Research at MSU is currently underway in looking at how the poplar tree responds to changes in the environment, Han said.
Genome information can also aid researchers in learning about the growth cycle of the trees, as well as the poplar's response to the effects of global warming, insects and disease, he said.
Because trees make up a significant part of the earth's surface - 30 percent - it's important these questions are understood, said Daniel Keathley, chairperson of the MSU Department of Forestry.
"When we look at the significance of the processes ecologically, it's very interesting and very significant that we understand the genetics and environmental signals that trigger perennial plants to go through their annual cycle," Keathley said. "This tool allows us to better understand the biological processes that go on in each of those plants."
The International Populus Genome Consortium involved 350 individual scientists from 65 countries, said Gerald Tuskan, senior scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the consortium's coordinator.
Tuskan said anyone who wished to be involved could participate, and it provided a way for scientists to collaborate on the genome.
"People had been working separately," he said. "The genome really provided the impetus for everybody coming together and creating a genomics resource."
By comparing the genome of the poplar tree to the genome of the small plant arabidopsis, which has also been decoded, researchers will be able to determine what characteristics are specific to trees.
"We can gain insights into a tree-unique function," Tuskan said. "It will allow us to understand what makes a tree a tree."
