Genetic architecture of carbon isotope composition and growth in Eucalyptus across multiple environments. Issue 4 (30th January 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bartholomé, Jérôme; Mabiala, André; Savelli, Bruno; Bert, Didier; Brendel, Oliver; Plomion, Christophe; Gion, Jean‐Marc
• Is Part Of: New phytologist. Volume 206:Issue 4(2015)
• Page Start: 1437
• Page End: 1449
• Publication Date: 2015-01-30
• Subjects: Botany -- Periodicals; 580
• DOI: 10.1111/nph.13301
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0028-646X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="nph13301-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p> <list id="nph13301-list-0001" list-type="bullet"> <list-item> <p>In the context of climate change, the water‐use efficiency (WUE) of highly productive tree varieties, such as eucalypts, has become a major issue for breeding programmes. This study set out to dissect the genetic architecture of carbon isotope composition (δ<sup>13</sup>C), a proxy of WUE, across several environments.</p> </list-item> <list-item> <p>A family of <italic>Eucalyptus urophylla</italic> × <italic>E. grandis</italic> was planted in three trials and phenotyped for δ<sup>13</sup>C and growth traits. High‐resolution genetic maps enabled us to target genomic regions underlying δ<sup>13</sup>C quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on the <italic>E. grandis</italic> genome.</p> </list-item> <list-item> <p>Of the 15 QTLs identified for δ<sup>13</sup>C, nine were stable across the environments and three displayed significant QTL‐by‐environment interaction, suggesting medium to high genetic determinism for this trait. Only one colocalization was found between growth and δ<sup>13</sup>C. Gene ontology (GO) term enrichment analysis suggested candidate genes related to foliar δ<sup>13</sup>C, including two involved in the regulation of stomatal movements.</p> </list-item> <list-item> <p>This study provides the first report of the genetic architecture of δ<sup>13</sup>C and its relation to growth in <italic>Eucalyptus</italic>. The low correlations found between the two traits at phenotypic and genetic levels suggest the possibility of improving the WUE of <italic>Eucalyptus</italic> varieties without having an impact on breeding for growth.</p> </list-item> </list> </p> </abstract>