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RESEARCH GROUP

| Biotechnology applied to forest and aromatic species

UVeg

subject

description

Research activity focused on the conservation and improvement of forest and aromatic species. It comprises two lines of research funded by MINECO, EU, and GVA (PrometeoII). 1- Biotechnology of forest species. It applies somatic embryogenesis (SE) as a tool to increase the resilience of forest species towards sustainable forest exploitation. In recent years, protocols of SE have been optimized in Pinus pinaster (maritime pine) and Quercus ilex (holm oak), highlighting the selection of Pinus pinaster families with high embryogenic capacity, the creation of a germplasm bank with these lines, the development of genetic transformation protocols in maritime pine and stone pine, and the establishment of embryogenic lines from adult genotypes of holm oak for the first time. 2- Metabolic engineering of terpenes. It studies the mechanisms that regulate the synthesis and accumulation of terpenes in glandular trichomes of Lavender (Lavandula latifolia).