ARTICLE: Genetic probe of redwoods, giant sequoias is key to restoring forests

The following is an excerpt of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper about efforts to save the redwood and giant sequioa trees through genetic engineering. 

Redwood trees, those ancient living monuments to California’s past, are as mysterious to science as they are magnificent, so a team of researchers led by a San Francisco conservation group is attempting to unlock the genetic secrets of the towering conifers.

Scientists affiliated with the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League are attempting for the first time to sequence the genomes of coast redwood trees and their higher-elevation cousins, the giant sequoias, a complex and expensive undertaking that experts hope will help preserve the trees’ ancient groves as the climate changes over the next century.

The five-year, $2.6 million Redwood Genome Project is the most intensive scientific study ever done on the state’s famous primeval forests. The goal is to enable scientists to maintain forest resiliency and genetic diversity by choosing the most robust, adaptable genes when planting or doing regeneration or habitat protection work.

“This is by far the greatest challenge that anyone has taken on (relating to redwoods), and it has an infinite number of uses,” said David Neale, a UC Davis plant scientist and the projects’ lead researcher. “These conifers are very, very old and have been accumulating DNA for millions of years.”

Sequencing the coast redwood genome will be especially difficult, he said, because it is 10 times larger than the human genome. Coast redwoods, for instance, have six sets of chromosomes compared with two for humans, an evolutionary adaptation that researchers believe helped the trees adjust successfully to changing conditions over thousands of years.

To read the entire article, please visit the San Francisco Chronicle website.