A review on transgenic approaches to accelerate breeding of woody plants

The long juvenile period of trees delays the breeding of new varieties. Flowering begins within 5-10 years in most cultivated forest trees under intensive management, but can take up to 40 years in some species and environmental conditions. To accelerate the breeding process several agrotechnical and biotechnical methods have been developed. Knowledge about genes controlling flower initiation in model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana, and identification of homologous genes in trees, have led to new possibilities for early-flower induction. Overexpression of MADS-box and other floral regulatory genes resulted in early flowering in some tree species and/or varieties. However, these methods have not yet been shown to enable the production of fertile, viable or normal gametes and progeny; developmental research towards these ends is therefore of high priority. A breeding scheme has been developed to use early flowering trees for the introduction of genes from wild species that would allow several backcrosses to occur in only a few years, and to produce at the end a non-transgenic improved variety. Research to develop practical early flowering methods could lead to several new methods for breeding and biotechnology.