title: Genomic insights into salt adaptation in a desert poplar.
abstract: Despite the high economic and ecological importance of forests, our knowledge of the genomic evolution of trees under salt stress remains very limited. Here we report the genome sequence of the desert poplar, Populus euphratica, which exhibits high tolerance to salt stress. Its genome is very similar and collinear to that of the closely related mesophytic congener, P. trichocarpa. However, we find that several gene families likely to be involved in tolerance to salt stress contain significantly more gene copies within the P. euphratica lineage. Furthermore, genes showing evidence of positive selection are significantly enriched in functional categories related to salt stress. Some of these genes, and others within the same categories, are significantly upregulated under salt stress relative to their expression in another salt-sensitive poplar. Our results provide an important background for understanding tree adaptation to salt stress and facilitating the genetic improvement of cultivated poplars for saline soils.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China [2].
authors.forename: Tao
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authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gongke
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authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yongzhi
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authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Dongming
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authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Yadan
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authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xia
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authors.forename: Gaini
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authors.forename: Juan
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authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qian
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authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jinchao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Ye
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authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Huanming
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authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: Yuxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Dongshi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Jia
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authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tongming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Martin
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authors.lastname: Lascoux
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Difazio
authors.forename: Gerald A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Tuskan
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jianquan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jianquan
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003889:Desert Climate; D018745:Genome, Plant; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D032107:Populus / Q000235:genetics*; D054712:Salinity; D055051:Salt-Tolerant Plants / Q000235:genetics*