CopyTree Conference in Santiago de Compostela

On April 17-18, 2023, the first CopyTree meeting was held in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). CopyTree is an EU research initiative (COST Action) that aims to bring together European researchers in the field of biotechnology with trees and woody plants.

The conference, entitled "Innovative Woody Plant Cloning", addressed many important questions:

• What are the reasons for the recalcitrance of many woody plant species to in vitro cultivation?
• What are the opportunities to conserve genetic resources and protect them against pathogens?
• What new biotechnological techniques are possible by in vitro cultivation of woody plants?
• And how can the public be taken along and the rather unwieldy term of plant cloning, which has nothing to do with genetic engineering but is often associated with it, be communicated?

Three Thünen scientists were involved in the conference:

The head of the junior research group Genetic Technologies, Dr. Tobias Brügmann, opened the Plenary Session with a presentation on biotechnological research in forest woody plants, such as poplars, European beeches, oaks and the invasive Asian tree-of-heaven.

Franka Thiesen presented her work in the project Buche-TIG in a poster and was able to report success in establishing different European beech genotypes as in vitro culture.

Dr. Ben Bubner not only participated in the Management Committee of the COST Action CopyTree, but also presented research results from the FraxGen project on a poster, in which selected individuals are to be maintained in tissue culture, while they would be threatened by ash dieback in the field.