This two-volume book gives a broad coverage of various aspects of plant molecular biology relevant to the improvement of woody plants. The authors provide background information on genetic engineering and molecular marker techniques, and specific examples of species in which sufficient progress has been made.

Section I. Genetic Engineering and gene expression.- 1. Optimization of the expression of a transgene in plants.- 2. Genetic engineering of forest trees.- 3. Molecular biology of somatic embryogenesis in conifers.- 4. Molecular aspects of bud dormancy in trees.- 5. Options for genetic engineering of floral sterility in forest trees.- 6 Molecular control of the development and function of the vascular cambium.- 7. Genetic engineering of wood formation.- 8. Molecular biology of cellulose biosynthesis.- 9. Control of lignin biosynthesis.- 10. Molecular biology of tropical nitrogen-fixing trees in the Casuarinaceae family.- 11. Proteins of the conifer extracellular matrix.- 12. Gene expression during Pseudotsuga menziesii embryogenesis: Low molecular weight proteins.- Section II. Molecular Genetics.- 13. Tissue culture of woody plants and its relevance to molecular biology.- 14. Variation in woody plants: molecular markers, evolutionary processes and conservation biology.- 15. Molecular markers and genome mapping in woody plants.- 16. Assessment of biodiversity with molecular tools in forest trees.- 17. Mapping quantitative traits in forest trees.- 18. Somaclonal variation and genetic molecular markers in woody plants.- 19. Molecular breeding of Eucalyptus.- 20. Molecular dissection of quantitative traits: new perspectives from Populus.- 21. Molecular genetic analysis of pathogenic forest fungi.