title: Molecular markers for tolerance of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) to dieback disease identified using Associative Transcriptomics.
abstract: Tree disease epidemics are a global problem, impacting food security, biodiversity and national economies. The potential for conservation and breeding in trees is hampered by complex genomes and long lifecycles, with most species lacking genomic resources. The European Ash tree Fraxinus excelsior is being devastated by the fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which causes ash dieback disease. Taking this system as an example and utilizing Associative Transcriptomics for the first time in a plant pathology study, we discovered gene sequence and gene expression variants across a genetic diversity panel scored for disease symptoms and identified markers strongly associated with canopy damage in infected trees. Using these markers we predicted phenotypes in a test panel of unrelated trees, successfully identifying individuals with a low level of susceptibility to the disease. Co-expression analysis suggested that pre-priming of defence responses may underlie reduced susceptibility to ash dieback.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harper
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lea Vig
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: McKinney
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lene Rostgaard
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Havlickova
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Computational and Systems Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trick
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fellgett
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth S A
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Sollars
authors.affiliation: The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Sophie H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Janacek
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: J Allan
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Downie
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Richard J A
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Buggs
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Erik Dahl
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Kjær
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bancroft
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D015415:Biomarkers; D031661:Fraxinus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers