Narrator: This is Science Today. It's been over a year since the entire genome of the poplar tree was published. The sequencing - part of a national effort to develop alternative fuels - took place at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute, or JGI, which is managed by the University of California. JGI researcher, Gerald Tuskan, led the study.

Tuskan: We chose the poplar tree as our first woody, perennial plant to sequence because there was an international community that has been investigating poplar for decades. There were extensive genetic maps and genetic resources available to us here that would help us or enable us to assemble the genome.

Narrator: This research may lead to the development of trees as an ideal ‘feedstock', for a new generation of biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol.

Tuskan: We're trying to tease apart how cells are constructed so that we can more easily or readily deconstruct/convert them into ethanol for transportation use and the genome's enabled us to do this in a more efficient and effective manner.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.