Quick Dips

Test-Tube Trees

Rotorua scientist Dr Dale Smith, working under contract to the Forest Research Institute, has created a world-first by reliably growing pine wood fibres in test-tubes.

A key tool in Smith's research has been the Institute's new laser scanning confocal microscope which produces three-dimensional coloured images that allow observation of walls in living cells

"Pine fibres are the basis of New Zealand's entire forest industry," he says. "It doesn't matter whether the end-product is structural timber, paper, or corrugated cardboard. By observing the deposition of cellulose and lignin in living cells, we are able to gain insights into the factors that regulate fibre growth, such as fibre length and cell wall thickness, which have a major influence on wood properties and subsequent use in industrial processing."

"There have been some surprises in this work," Smith notes. "We have observed cells with patterns of wall formation not typically seen in living trees. Pines evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, and many of the characteristics they express today may have evolved to enable them to survive extreme climatic conditions, for instance, the ice ages. In our work we may be seeing the full genetic potential of radiata pine, when cells are freed from a conservative growth programme'."

Smith says his work could help unlock the latent genetic potential of pine trees. Culturing wood fibres in the laboratory, we will help develop a greater understanding of how fibres are formed in nature, and at the same time provide a valuable tool for assessment of developments in molecular biology.

"If we can grow mature wood fibres in culture we short-cut the whole assessment process because in radiata pine we must wait 10 years before mature fibres are produced."

New knowledge arising from successful wood fibre manipulation will also ultimately help in novel forest tree cloning and genetic engineering technologies for improvement in wood quality.

Wood-like fibres have been grown for an experimental flowering plant elsewhere in the world, but the Rotorua development is a first for a commercially important plant species.

"This research is a significant step towards the ultimate goal of being able to modify genes in forest trees to create novel wood fibres that will serve as the raw material for entirely new industrial processes, as well as enhancing the competitiveness of existing industry," says Smith.