Abstract: Expression of rol genes from Ri plasmid leads to the excessive formati on of adventitious roots at the site of infection in plant, and transformed plants can be easily regenerated from the adventitious roots. The plants transformed with Ri plasmid rol genes often generate various genetically modified characteristics which have broad prospects for the application of plant genetic improvemen t. Since the 80's of the last century, much progress has been made in the studies on agropine type Ri plasmid rol genes and their applications for plant genetic improvement, which involves the structure and function of Ri plasmid, the characters of rol genes, the influence of rol genes expression on plants growth and development, and the applications of rol genes for forest tree genetic improvement. In this paper, the advances in this field are reviewed and the existing problems about the application ofrolgenes on forest tree genetic improvement are also discussed.