title: Plant eco-devo: the potential of poplar as a model organism.
abstract: Ecological developmental genetics is the study of how ecologically significant traits originate in the genome and how the allelic combinations responsible are maintained in populations and species. Plant development involves a continuous feedback between growth and environment and the success of individual genotype x environment interactions determines the passage of alleles to the next generation: the adaptive recursion. Outbreeding plants contain a large amount of genetic variation, mostly in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). One of the challenges of eco-devo is to distinguish neutral SNPs from those with ecological consequences. The complete genome sequence of Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray will be a significant aid in this endeavour. Occurring from California to Alaska, this is the first ecologically 'keystone' species to be sequenced. It has a rich natural history and is an obligate outbreeder. The individual sequenced, Nisqually-1, appears to be heterozygous on average about every 100 bp over the c. 500 million bp of the genome. Overlaid on this within-individual variation is some ecologically based between-individual genotypic variation evident across the distribution of the species. The synthesis of information from genomics and ecology is now in prospect. This 'ecomolecular synthesis' is likely to provide a rich insight into the genomic basis of plant adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Botanical Garden and Center for Plant Research, University of British Columbia, 6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver BC, Canada V6T 1Z4. quentin.cronk@ubc.ca
authors.forename: Q C B
authors.initials: QC
authors.lastname: Cronk
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D018745:Genome, Plant; D032107:Populus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*