Researchers believe drought-resistant trees might offer a reliable bioenergy source in the face of climate change
The UC Davis College of Biological Sciences has started a new project that studies the function of the genes that regulate growth and wood formation in poplar trees. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding the $2.5 million, three-year-long project that is to be led by Nitzan Shabek, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Biology, along with Andrew Groover of the USDA Pacific Southwest Research Station and Justin Walley of Iowa State University. The project is one of 37 being funded by the DOE in an effort to forward bioenergy technology.
