Effects of genetic transformation on cry transgenic lines of poplar

Problems, such as the impact on biodiversity and the potential escapes of the trans-genes into wild populations can be amplified in the case of long-lived forest species. Therefore, studies of possible environmental impacts of transgenic forest plants (poplar) in the forest environment are important. Few studies have been published considering the alteration of the transgenic host plant genome for the possibility that transgenes can also cause pleiotropic, often undesirable alterations in plant metabolism and physiology. Other studies carried out so far, concerned the use of transgenesis to obtain poplar mutants for genomic studies or poplar breeding just for an economic purpose. The screening of the transgenic plants carrying the cry gene is in course, and the evaluation of the copy number as well as expression of the inserted gene is under evaluation. The final aim is to unravel possible pleiotropic metabolic effects in the transgenic trees following cry gene expression in P. alba and P. tremula x P. tremuloides transgenic lines.