Genetic Adaptation to Climate in White Spruce Involves Small to Moderate Allele Frequency Shifts in Functionally Diverse Genes.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation to climate is of paramount importance for preserving and managing genetic diversity in plants in a context of climate change. Yet, this objective has been addressed mainly in short-lived model species. Thus, expanding knowledge to nonmodel species with contrasting life histories, such as forest trees, appears necessary. To uncover the genetic basis of adaptation to climate in the widely distributed boreal conifer white spruce (Picea glauca), an environmental association study was conducted using 11,085 single nucleotide polymorphisms representing 7,819 genes, that is, approximately a quarter of the transcriptome.Linear and quadratic regressions controlling for isolation-by-distance, and the Random Forest algorithm, identified several dozen gene

SUBMITTER: Hornoy B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4700950 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature