Original story

Reuters, Helsinki & Stockholm, 11.6.2018

Forests set to become world’s gene bank as genic pine proves capable of storing and reproducing plant and animal hereditary factors

If the Finns and the Swedes are to be believed, the forests are set to become the world’s gene bank. That is the view of the team of scientists led by Dr. Gunnulf Perkoi in the Swedish capital.

The genic pine is sprayed with the desired plant or animal hereditary factors when the pine seedlings are around one month old. The young tree stores, isolates, and in a sense capsulates the imported factors into its own cell tissue. As the tree grows, the capsules reproduce, without influencing the development of the pine itself.

The most remarkable and significant feature of the genic pine is that it inserts into its seeds the hereditary factors of the “stowaway” plant or animal, rather than its own. For this reason the research team has taken to calling the cones of the genic pine “cuckoo eggs”, after the brood parasite behaviour of the Eurasian cuckoo.

The first crop of cones from the Scots pines being grown at the Viikki Agritech Research Centre of the University of Helsinki have now been available for study for around six months. Nearly all the studies carried out on the contents and growth of the seeds have shown positive results. It seems likely that in the future the genetic wrapping paper for many plants and animals may well be the humble pine-cone.

Perhaps most astonishingly, in germination tests carried out at the Viikki laboratories, many species of plants have started to grow directly from pine seeds. Also experiments into the “rebirth” of certain primitive animal species have almost always been successful and the method has proved to be a great deal simpler than traditional cloning.

Some of the results were published last month in Proceedings of the Royal Biomechanics Institute. As a result, the Swedish and Finnish research groups have entered into a cooperative agreement with the multinational UPM Forestry Inc., and have reproduced in the lab a million seedlings, which will suffice to cover an area of around 100 sq.km. of thinly-spaced forest when planted out. Thousands of trees have been ordered in advance for seed production by farms and horticulturalists.

One curious outcome of the “cuckoo” effect of secreting imported genes in the pine seeds is that the trees themselves refuse to insert their own genome into their seeds - not even after spraying. Hence the genic pines are technically sterile, and can only be reproduced by cloning.

The majority of the UPM Forestry seedlings at Viikki will be going to the Worldwide Fund for Wildlife. The Fund’s programme for the preservation of natural biodiversity has found a very useful tool in the genic pine. The programme is collecting DNA samples of numerous threatened plant and animal species in a variety of forms, but it also includes the gathering of a genetic “bank” of existing species.

The WWF has particularly sought out methods to secure the survival of individual species which do not require heavy-handed and intrusive technological solutions. “We cannot allow ourselves to become too dependent on technology, which is in the final analysis very vulnerable in the face of natural forces”, commented UN Under-Secretary Solange Bureau as she handed over a USD 15 million cashcard to WWF representatives at a ceremony in New York last week.

At the same occasion, Dr. Gunnulf Perkoi noted that the concept of a genic forest is not really such a novel one. “The old folk tales tell us that the forest has a long memory”, he said. “Our research teams simply wanted to give concrete shape to this idea.”

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 2/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: ei; arviointi-ikkuna on 2013–2023
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: vain erillisinä tutkimussuuntina
  • Ilmiön ydin: elävä puu toimii monien kasvi- ja eläinlajien perinnöllisen aineksen pitkäaikaisena tallennus- ja kopiointijärjestelmänä.

Siemenpankit, DNA-arkistot ja synteettiseen DNA:han tallennettu tieto ovat todellisia, ja eläviä soluja käytetään tiedon säilytyskokeissa. Mänty ei kuitenkaan varastoi mielivaltaisia genomeja tai siirrä niitä käpyihinsä tarinan tavalla.

Johtopäätös: ennuste yhdisti oikeita geenipankin ja DNA-tallennuksen ajatuksia, mutta ydinmekanismi ei toteutunut.