Research Overview: Dr. Cheng's research program focuses on two areas, genomics and molecular phylogeny, and the interface of molecular biology and plant breeding and growth and development of woody plants, particularly Populus . Current research focuses on three major areas. One is associated with Populus genomics and poplar genetic engineering for biomass energy production. The projects include transformation of aspen plants for increasing growth rate and for enhanced rooting from hardwood cuttings and understanding adventitious rooting mechanisms, genetic transformation of Populus trichocarpa Nisqually-1 for poplar functional genomics research, developing sterile poplar trees to reduce the environmental risk of the transgenic poplars, genetic engineering poplars for heavy metal phytoremediation, and characterization of poplar genome. Another major area of research is to employ biotechnology to neutralize the invasiveness of high-value ornamental plants and to possibly eradicate invasive plants. Current Research Projects: Characterization of the poplar genome. Poplar ( Populus ) has recently completely sequenced by the Department of Energy. Cheng's lab has joined the group led by Dr. G. A. Tuskan to establish a Poplar Genome Center at UT that was recently funded by the National Science Foundation. Following establishing the virtual genome center, research will focus on characterization of the poplar genome and understanding some of the most important biological questions related to woody plants. We have recently completed comparative analysis of the Dof gene families of Poplar, rice and Arabidopsis (Yang, Tuskan and Cheng, 2006 Plant Physiology142:820-830). Transformation of aspen for enhancing rooting with hardwood cuttings and understanding the adventitious rooting mechanism . This research has been supported by the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, Inc. (CPBR)/the Department of Energy, and Blandin Paper company and Weyheauser Company. Our basic strategy was to transform plants with auxin-related genes to determine whether manipulation of endogenous auxin will enable us to induce root formation from hardwood cuttings and to elucidate the rooting mechanism. Several other genetic engineering projects are also in progress. Transformation of Populus trichocarpa 'Nisqually-1' for poplar functional genomics research. This research is supported by the DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Nisqually-1 is a poplar genotype that has been completely sequenced by the DOE/ORNL. A high throughput transformation system for this genotype is one of the key components in the next wave of research on poplar functional genomics program. With the system available, many research approaches for functional genomics can be applied, such as knockout and knockdown by RNAi. Biotechnology application to create new plant materials. Cheng's lab has also spent considerable effort to develop transformation techniques for woody and herbaceous ornamental plants, although very challenging. Current projects include, developing fast-growing aspen for paper companies and as an energy crop and genetic engineering woody ornamental plants for sterility and non-invasiveness in collaborating with Dr. Yi Li at the University of Connecticut , and genetically improving poinsettia.