Genetic engineering of forest tree species to conform to desired traits has shifted the emphasis in forest tree improvement away from the traditional breeding programs during the past decade. Although research on genetic engineering of forest trees has been vigorous, the progress has been slow due.
Very little progress has been reported regarding the genetic engineering of color in plant species. The ability to genetically alter the color of plants would be of great value to industries such as the furniture industry to make furniture from genetically modified wood or to the paper industry. Accordingly, these exists a need for such genetic color modification of plant species.
Further, there is a need for improving the efficiency of pulping of wood. Considerable monetary and environmental costs are incurred by the paper industry in removing lignin from cellulose during the production of wood pulp and paper.