PLANTS HAVING IMPROVED FIBER CHARACTERISTICS AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME

摘要

The present invention pertains to a novel and extensive analytical platform for selecting genes with a possible commercial phenotype from a large group of candidate genes identified using tools in bioinformatics, data from EST sequencing and DNA array. The analytical platform is concentrated on analyses of fiber length and/or width and growth behavior based on a combination of multiple criteria. An object of the present invention relates to a method of producing a transgenic plant having an increased fibre length and/or width compared to its wild type. The method comprises altering in the plant the level of a gene product of at least one gene specifically expressed during different phases of wood formation phases. Further aspects of the invention provide a plant cell or plant progeny of a transgenic plant comprising a recombinant polynucleotide according to the invention. Other aspects pertain to wood produced by a transgenic plant of the invention as well as a DNA construct comprising a nucleotide sequence of the invention and a plant cell or plant progeny comprising the DNA construct.