W740
Signatures of Selection Among de novo Assembled Transcriptomes of Four White Pine Species

Date: Saturday, January 9, 2016
Time: 4:45 PM
Room: Pacific Salon 3
U. Uzay Sezen , Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Ethan A.G. Baker , Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Taylor Falk , Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Patricia E. Maloney , University of California, Davis, CA
Detlev R. Vogler , USDA Forest Service, Placerville, CA
Annette
 Delfino‐Mix , 
Institute 
of Forest 
Genetics,
 USDA 
Forest 
Service, Placerville, CA
Camille E. Jensen , University of California, Davis, CA
Jeffry B. Mitton , University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Jessica Wright , USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, Davis, CA
Brian Knaus , USDA Agricultural Research Service, Corvallis, OR
Hardeep S. Rai , Utah State University, Logan, UT
Richard Cronn , USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, OR
Daniel Gonzalez-Ibeas , Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Hans Vasquez-Gross , University of California Davis, Davis, CA
Randi Famula , Dept. Plant Sciences University of California Davis, Davis, CA
Jun-Jun Liu , Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, BC, Canada
Lara M. Kueppers , University of California, Merced, CA
Steven L. Salzberg , Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Charles H. Langley , Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Kristian Stevens , Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Daniela Puiu , Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Aleksey Zimin , University of Maryland, College Park, MD
James A Yorke , University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Marc Crepeau , Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
Carol Loopstra , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Jeffrey Puryear , Dept. of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
David Neale , Dept. Plant Sciences University of California Davis, Davis, CA
Jill Wegrzyn , Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Conifers are evolutionarily ancient group of trees that form the dominant vegetation throughout the high latitude boreal forests as well as some lower latitude temperate forests of North America, Europe, and Asia. They possess exceptional longevity and play an integral economic and ecological role across much of the world. Here we investigate de novo assembled transcriptomes of four white pine species: western white pine (Pinus monticola), limber pine (Pinus flexilis), whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), and sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana). All are five-needle white pines classified as members of the subgenus Strobus. Among them Pinus flexilis, and Pinus albicaulis are high elevation species and will be largely affected by climate change. Annotation of the four white pine needle leaf tissue transcriptomes revealed a core set of 2025 gene families shared across the four white pines among which 408 showed signatures of selection. Of these 408, 39 are estimated to be under positive selection (average dN/dS > 1), 9 are under neutral selection (average dN/dS < 1 and average dN/dS > 0.95), and the remaining 360 are under purifying selection (average dN/dS <0.95). Among the positively selected genes FBK-Skip6, E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase and UTP7 will be highlighted. A comparative study examining the gene space among the four species including candidate genes involved in drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance and phenology is underway. The PineRefSeq project which has produced genome assemblies for loblolly pine, sugar pine, and Douglas-fir has been annotated with the assistance of deep transcriptomes of this study. Adaptive evolution and patterns of selection among the four white pines will advance our understanding of this ancient non-model plant group.
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