Analysis of the genetic diversity of white poplar (Populus alba) as a basis for its applied potential in urban ecosystems.
The project is aimed at improving the environmental situation in megacities and minimizing allergic reactions in the population due to poplar fruiting (poplar fluff formation). The project emphasizes the prospects for further application of the obtained fundamental results in practice. For example, it will be possible to quickly obtain more resistant to abiotic factors male seedlings that do not form poplar fluff, which contributes to the emergence and aggravation of allergic reactions during the fruiting period of the tree and significantly reduces the quality of life of city dwellers. In large cities due to the unfavorable environmental situation, effective landscaping becomes especially important. Poplars (genus Populus) can be called an ideal urban plant: they are unpretentious, grow quickly, multiply easily, have a large leaf surface, effectively absorb carbon dioxide, contribute to air purification from harmful impurities and dust, have phytoncidal action, release several times more oxygen than many other trees used in landscaping. The importance of poplar as a tree crop with high potential for use in bioremediation of soils cannot be overlooked.White poplar is unusually resistant to abiotic factors and is almost immune to diseases and pest attacks. On the territory of the Russian Federation, it is able to form hybrids only with aspen, because other species of its section grow far from the white poplar habitat. The sex determination system of P.alba ensures the possibility of confident identification of male individuals, even in the case of hybridization with aspen, as well as the absence of mechanisms that allow the possibility of sex change during life.Up to now, practically nothing is known about the diversity of white poplar (Populus alba) genotypes and its hybrids in different regions of the Russian Federation, as well as about the degree of genetic polymorphism of some genome regions potentially important for the development of PCR test systems. The limits of poplar tolerance to many pollutants, even those frequently encountered in cities, such as components of chemical de-icing agents, in which 60-95% is sodium chloride, are unknown. Extremely little is known about genetic markers of economically valuable traits, such as sensitivity to xenobiotics, as well as the fundamental mechanisms underlying them.