A Grove of Fuel

The Winnipeg Free Press reports on the work of University of British Columbia's Carl Douglas and his colleagues, who "plan to use $9.8 in funding ... to find more efficient ways of growing [poplar and cottonwood] trees so their natural sugars can be fermented and turned into products like ethanol." Genome Canada, Genome BC, and various partners will support Douglas et al.'s efforts to identify genetic variants in poplar and cottonwood trees that will enhance the process of turning their sugars to fuel "once those genes are combined differently," the Free Press adds. Douglas tells the newspaper that, rather than taking a genetic modification approach, the team will be "using the genes that are already there in the trees and combining them in new ways."