GENETIC TESTING POPLAR SEEDLINGS WILL RELIEVE THE CITY FROM THE FLUFF

Effective landscaping is important for improving the ecology of metropolises. Poplar is an indispensable urban plant due to its resistance to unfavorable conditions and the ability to intensively purify the air and release oxygen. At the same time, poplar has a serious disadvantage - fluff (pubescent seeds), which is produced only by female plants. For metropolis landscaping, it is advisable to use male poplars which do not produce fluff, and it is necessary to identify the right plants at the initial stages of development. Studies of recent years have made it possible to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms that distinguish male plants from female ones, opening opportunities for the development of genetic markers for sex identification of poplar. We have found sex-associated genetic polymorphisms in the population of Moscow poplars, on the basis of which a test system is developing for rapid, accurate and inexpensive identification of the poplar sex by amplifying a specific region of DNA and then analyzing high-resolution melting curves. The test will allow the selection of males even among annual plants and will make it possible to use for the town landscaping only non-fluffy trees that can significantly improve the ecological situation, which is especially important for areas with a high level of pollution.