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Touchette L, Godbout J, Lamothe M, Porth I, Isabel N. A cryptic syngameon within Betula shrubs revealed: Implications for conservation in changing subarctic environments. Evol Appl 2024; 17:e13689. [PMID: 38633131 PMCID: PMC11022622 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are rapidly transforming due to global warming, emphasizing the need to understand the genetic diversity and adaptive strategies of northern plant species for effective conservation. This study focuses on Betula glandulosa, a native North American tundra shrub known as dwarf birch, which demonstrates an apparent capacity to adapt to changing climate conditions. To address the taxonomic challenges associated with shrub birches and logistical complexities of sampling in the northernmost areas where species' ranges overlap, we adopted a multicriteria approach. Incorporating molecular data, ploidy level assessment and leaf morphology, we aimed to distinguish B. glandulosa individuals from other shrub birch species sampled. Our results revealed three distinct species and their hybrids within the 537 collected samples, suggesting the existence of a shrub birch syngameon, a reproductive network of interconnected species. Additionally, we identified two discrete genetic clusters within the core species, B. glandulosa, that likely correspond to two different glacial lineages. A comparison between the nuclear and chloroplast SNP data emphasizes a long history of gene exchange between different birch species and genetic clusters. Furthermore, our results highlight the significance of incorporating interfertile congeneric species in conservation strategies and underscores the need for a holistic approach to conservation in the context of climate change, considering the complex dynamics of species interactions. While further research will be needed to describe this shrub birches syngameon and its constituents, this study is a first step in recognizing its existence and disseminating awareness among ecologists and conservation practitioners. This biological phenomenon, which offers evolutionary flexibility and resilience beyond what its constituent species can achieve individually, may have significant ecological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lyne Touchette
- Department of Wood and Forest SciencesUniversité LavalQuebecQuebecCanada
- Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest ServiceLaurentian Forestry CentreQuebecQuebecCanada
- Centre for Forest ResearchUniversité LavalQuebecQuebecCanada
| | - Julie Godbout
- Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts, Direction de la recherche forestièreQuébecQuébecCanada
| | - Manuel Lamothe
- Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest ServiceLaurentian Forestry CentreQuebecQuebecCanada
| | - Ilga Porth
- Department of Wood and Forest SciencesUniversité LavalQuebecQuebecCanada
- Centre for Forest ResearchUniversité LavalQuebecQuebecCanada
| | - Nathalie Isabel
- Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest ServiceLaurentian Forestry CentreQuebecQuebecCanada
- Centre for Forest ResearchUniversité LavalQuebecQuebecCanada
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Advanced Breeding for Biotic Stress Resistance in Poplar. PLANTS 2022; 11:plants11152032. [PMID: 35956510 PMCID: PMC9370193 DOI: 10.3390/plants11152032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Poplar is one of the most important forest trees because of its high economic value. Thanks to the fast-growing rate, easy vegetative propagation and transformation, and availability of genomic resources, poplar has been considered the model species for forest genetics, genomics, and breeding. Being a field-growing tree, poplar is exposed to environmental threats, including biotic stresses that are becoming more intense and diffused because of global warming. Current poplar farming is mainly based on monocultures of a few elite clones and the expensive and long-term conventional breeding programmes of perennial tree species cannot face current climate-change challenges. Consequently, new tools and methods are necessary to reduce the limits of traditional breeding related to the long generation time and to discover new sources of resistance. Recent advances in genomics, marker-assisted selection, genomic prediction, and genome editing offer powerful tools to efficiently exploit the Populus genetic diversity and allow enabling molecular breeding to support accurate early selection, increasing the efficiency, and reducing the time and costs of poplar breeding, that, in turn, will improve our capacity to face or prevent the emergence of new diseases or pests.
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He ST, Wu JC, Zheng YX, Zhang YP, Li SH, Peng XM. The complete chloroplast genome of the genus Azadirachta. Mitochondrial DNA B Resour 2022; 7:1267-1269. [PMID: 35859717 PMCID: PMC9291716 DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2022.2095230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Azadirachta consists of 2 species and 1 variety indigenous to the tropical areas of the Indo-Malayan region. They are evergreen trees for multi-purpose utilization featured by containing azadirachtin. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome of Azadirachta indica, A. indica var. siamensis and Azadirachta excelsa were reported in this study, which was 160,876 bp, 160,477 bp, and 160,361 bp in length respectively. The whole cp genomes encode 131 genes (37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 86 protein-coding genes) in both A. indica and A. excelsa, while A. indica var. siamensis do not have the rrn4.5S gene in the inverted repeat regions. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that A. indica var. siamensis and A. exselsa were closely related and A. indica was separated from these two species, which suggested that A. siamensis could be a species rather than a variety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si-Teng He
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
- Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
- Pu’er Forest Ecosystem Research Station, National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, Pu’er, China
| | - Jiang-Chong Wu
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
| | - Yi-Xing Zheng
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
| | - Yan-Ping Zhang
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
| | - Shu-Hui Li
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
- Forestry and Grassland Research Institute of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Xichang, China
| | - Xing-Min Peng
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), Kunming, China
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Royer‐Tardif S, Boisvert‐Marsh L, Godbout J, Isabel N, Aubin I. Finding common ground: Toward comparable indicators of adaptive capacity of tree species to a changing climate. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:13081-13100. [PMID: 34646454 PMCID: PMC8495821 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Adaptive capacity, one of the three determinants of vulnerability to climate change, is defined as the capacity of species to persist in their current location by coping with novel environmental conditions through acclimation and/or evolution. Although studies have identified indicators of adaptive capacity, few have assessed this capacity in a quantitative way that is comparable across tree species. Yet, such multispecies assessments are needed by forest management and conservation programs to refine vulnerability assessments and to guide the choice of adaptation measures. In this paper, we propose a framework to quantitatively evaluate five key components of tree adaptive capacity to climate change: individual adaptation through phenotypic plasticity, population phenotypic diversity as influenced by genetic diversity, genetic exchange within populations, genetic exchange between populations, and genetic exchange between species. For each component, we define the main mechanisms that underlie adaptive capacity and present associated metrics that can be used as indices. To illustrate the use of this framework, we evaluate the relative adaptive capacity of 26 northeastern North American tree species using values reported in the literature. Our results show adaptive capacity to be highly variable among species and between components of adaptive capacity, such that no one species ranks consistently across all components. On average, the conifer Picea glauca and the broadleaves Acer rubrum and A. saccharinum show the greatest adaptive capacity among the 26 species we documented, whereas the conifers Picea rubens and Thuja occidentalis, and the broadleaf Ostrya virginiana possess the lowest. We discuss limitations that arise when comparing adaptive capacity among species, including poor data availability and comparability issues in metrics derived from different methods or studies. The breadth of data required for such an assessment exemplifies the multidisciplinary nature of adaptive capacity and the necessity of continued cross-collaboration to better anticipate the impacts of a changing climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Royer‐Tardif
- Natural Resources CanadaCanadian Forest ServiceGreat Lakes Forestry CentreSault Sainte MarieONCanada
- Centre d'enseignement et de recherche en foresterie de Sainte‐Foy inc. (CERFO)QuébecQCCanada
| | - Laura Boisvert‐Marsh
- Natural Resources CanadaCanadian Forest ServiceGreat Lakes Forestry CentreSault Sainte MarieONCanada
| | - Julie Godbout
- Ministère des Forêts de la Faune et des Parcs du QuébecDirection de la recherche forestièreQuébecQCCanada
| | - Nathalie Isabel
- Natural Resources CanadaCanadian Forest ServiceLaurentian Forestry CentreQuébecQCCanada
| | - Isabelle Aubin
- Natural Resources CanadaCanadian Forest ServiceGreat Lakes Forestry CentreSault Sainte MarieONCanada
- Centre for Forest ResearchUniversité du Québec à MontréalMontréalQCCanada
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Silva AR, Resende-Moreira LC, Carvalho CS, Lanes ECM, Ortiz-Vera MP, Viana PL, Jaffé R. Range-wide neutral and adaptive genetic structure of an endemic herb from Amazonian Savannas. AOB PLANTS 2020; 12:plaa003. [PMID: 32128104 PMCID: PMC7043808 DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plaa003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 01/28/2020] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Conserving genetic diversity in rare and narrowly distributed endemic species is essential to maintain their evolutionary potential and minimize extinction risk under future environmental change. In this study we assess neutral and adaptive genetic structure and genetic diversity in Brasilianthus carajensis (Melastomataceae), an endemic herb from Amazonian Savannas. Using RAD sequencing we identified a total of 9365 SNPs in 150 individuals collected across the species' entire distribution range. Relying on assumption-free genetic clustering methods and environmental association tests we then compared neutral with adaptive genetic structure. We found three neutral and six adaptive genetic clusters, which could be considered management units (MU) and adaptive units (AU), respectively. Pairwise genetic differentiation (F ST) ranged between 0.024 and 0.048, and even though effective population sizes were below 100, no significant inbreeding was found in any inferred cluster. Nearly 10 % of all analysed sequences contained loci associated with temperature and precipitation, from which only 25 sequences contained annotated proteins, with some of them being very relevant for physiological processes in plants. Our findings provide a detailed insight into genetic diversity, neutral and adaptive genetic structure in a rare endemic herb, which can help guide conservation and management actions to avoid the loss of unique genetic variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda R Silva
- Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia/Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas - Botânica Tropical, Belém-PA, Brazil
- Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Programa de Capacitação Institucional (PCI), Belém-PA, Brazil
| | | | | | - Eder C M Lanes
- Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Belém-PA, Brazil
| | - Mabel P Ortiz-Vera
- Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Belém-PA, Brazil
- Universidade Federal do Pará, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Belém-PA, Brazil
| | - Pedro L Viana
- Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia/Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas - Botânica Tropical, Belém-PA, Brazil
| | - Rodolfo Jaffé
- Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Belém-PA, Brazil
- Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Ecologia, São Paulo-SP, Brazil
- Corresponding author’s email address:
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Isabel N, Holliday JA, Aitken SN. Forest genomics: Advancing climate adaptation, forest health, productivity, and conservation. Evol Appl 2020; 13:3-10. [PMID: 31892941 PMCID: PMC6935596 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 12/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Forest ecosystems provide important ecological services and resources, from habitat for biodiversity to the production of environmentally friendly products, and play a key role in the global carbon cycle. Humanity is counting on forests to sequester and store a substantial portion of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide produced globally. However, the unprecedented rate of climate change, deforestation, and accidental importation of invasive insects and diseases are threatening the health and productivity of forests, and their capacity to provide these services. Knowledge of genetic diversity, local adaptation, and genetic control of key traits is required to predict the adaptive capacity of tree populations, inform forest management and conservation decisions, and improve breeding for productive trees that will withstand the challenges of the 21st century. Genomic approaches have well accelerated the generation of knowledge of the genetic and evolutionary underpinnings of nonmodel tree species, and advanced their applications to address these challenges. This special issue of Evolutionary Applications features 14 papers that demonstrate the value of a wide range of genomic approaches that can be used to better understand the biology of forest trees, including species that are widespread and managed for timber production, and others that are threatened or endangered, or serve important ecological roles. We highlight some of the major advances, ranging from understanding the evolution of genomes since the period when gymnosperms separated from angiosperms 300 million years ago to using genomic selection to accelerate breeding for tree health and productivity. We also discuss some of the challenges and future directions for applying genomic tools to address long-standing questions about forest trees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Isabel
- Laurentian Forestry CentreCanadian Forest ServiceNatural Resources CanadaQuébecCanada
- Canada Research Chair in Forest GenomicsCentre for Forest Research and Institute for Systems and Integrative BiologyUniversité LavalQuébecCanada
| | - Jason A. Holliday
- Department of Forest Resources and Environmental ConservationVirginia TechBlacksburgVAUSA
| | - Sally N. Aitken
- Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics and Department of Forest and Conservation SciencesUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouverCanada
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