Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Genomic basis for drought resistance in European beech forests threatened by climate change
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Genomic basis for drought resistance in European beech forests threatened by climate change
Do you wish to request the book?
Genomic basis for drought resistance in European beech forests threatened by climate change
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Genomic basis for drought resistance in European beech forests threatened by climate change
2021
Overview
In the course of global climate change, Central Europe is experiencing more frequent and prolonged periods of drought. The drought years 2018 and 2019 affected European beeches ( Fagus sylvatica L.) differently: even in the same stand, drought-damaged trees neighboured healthy trees, suggesting that the genotype rather than the environment was responsible for this conspicuous pattern. We used this natural experiment to study the genomic basis of drought resistance with Pool-GWAS. Contrasting the extreme phenotypes identified 106 significantly associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) throughout the genome. Most annotated genes with associated SNPs (>70%) were previously implicated in the drought reaction of plants. Non-synonymous substitutions led either to a functional amino acid exchange or premature termination. A non-parametric machine learning approach on 98 validation samples yielded 20 informative loci which allowed an 88% prediction probability of the drought phenotype. Drought resistance in European beech is a moderately polygenic trait that should respond well to natural selection, selective management, and breeding. Climate change is having a serious impact on many ecosystems. In the summer of 2018 and 2019, around two thirds of European beech trees were damaged or killed by extreme drought. It is critical to keep these beech woods healthy, as they are central to the survival of over 6,000 other species of animals and plants. The level of damage caused by the drought varied between forests. However, not all the trees in each forest responded in the same way, with severely damaged trees often sitting next to fully healthy ones. This suggests that the genetic make-up of each tree determines how well it can adapt to drought rather than its local environment. To investigate this further, Pfenninger et al. studied the genome of over 400 European beech trees from the Hesse region in Germany. The samples came from pairs of neighbouring trees that had responded differently to the droughts. The analysis found more than 80 parts of the genome that differed between healthy and damaged trees. Pfenninger et al. then used this information to create a genetic test which can quickly and inexpensively predict how well an individual beech tree might survive in a drought. Applying this test to another 92 trees revealed that it can reliably detect which ones were healthy and which ones were damaged. Beech forests are typically managed by private owners, agencies or breeders that could use this genetic test to select and reproduce trees that are better adapted to drought. The goal now is to develop the test so that it can be used more widely to manage European beech trees and potentially other species.
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd,eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
