Signal Brazil approved a transgenic eucalyptus growing 20 percent faster in 2015

Summary

The report explains that genetically modifying trees is not new and points to Brazil as an example. In 2015, Brazil approved commercial use of a transgenic eucalyptus that grew 20 percent faster and produced more cellulose. The goal was to raise the efficiency of industrial plantations. The report sees tree modification as having served mainly productive ends like this until recently. Precise techniques such as CRISPR-Cas and base editing, which avoid inserting foreign genes, are now being turned toward climate aims, developing trees that store more carbon for longer. The Brazilian case marks the productivity-driven starting point of genetic engineering before the arrival of climate-oriented super trees.