Genetic control of tracheid properties in Norway spruce wood

Abstract

16 Through the use of genome-wide association (GWAS) mapping it is possible to 17 establish the genetic basis of phenotypic trait variation. Our GWAS study presents the 18 first such an effort in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L). Karst.) for the traits related to 19 wood tracheid characteristics. 20  The study employed an exome capture genotyping approach that generated 178 101 21 high quality Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from 40 018 probes within a 22  The results demonstrate feasibility of GWAS to identify novel candidate genes 35 controlling industrially-relevant tracheid traits in Norway spruce. The presence of many 36 traits with several significant QTLs supports the notion that the majority of these traits 37 are polygenic in nature. 38 39Loci QTLs, which in conifers are traditionally detected using suitable segregating populations 66 such as, full-or half-sib progenies. More recently, GWAS, also known as Linkage 67 Disequilibrium (LD) mapping, have been applied as an alternative approach to QTLs detection 68 from traditional pedigree-based mapping studies. GWAS accounts for historical recombination 69

Genetic architecture behind developmental and seasonal control of tree growth and wood properties in Norway spruce

“…For example, Elfstrand et al (2020), performing GWAS for disease resistance traits in Norway spruce using 466 genotypes, did not find any overlapped SNPs with another previous study using 66 genotypes/clones (Mukrimin et al, 2018). We also did not observe the same QTLs detected in two previous studies of Norway spruce using a smaller population (517 trees) (Baison et al, 2019(Baison et al, , 2020. In this study, we performed GWAS analysis in a parental population (476 trees) and identified nine SNPs with p < 0.05 that overlapped with the associated SNPs in the GWAS of their progenies (Table 3).…”

“…Norway spruce (Picea abies) is the most important commercial tree species in Northern Europe. GWAS has been conducted for several wood properties using 517 Norway spruce individuals (Baison et al, 2019(Baison et al, , 2020. SNPs have been identified for the traits of wood density, stiffness, the number of cells, and cell wall thickness.…”