TITLE:
Impact of Natural Selection on Lignin and Cellulose Candidate Genes in a Natural Population of Eucalyptus urophylla
AUTHORS:
Létizia Camus-Kulandaivelu, Bénédicte Favreau, Saneyoshi Ueno, Jonathan Przybyla, Jean-Marc Bouvet
KEYWORDS:
Eucalyptus urophylla, Adaptation, Demography, Approximate Bayesian Computation, Candidate Genes
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.4 No.17,
December
30,
2014
ABSTRACT: Wood plays a major role in land ecosystems and in human activity. Better
understanding the genetic basis and evolutionary implication of wood
variability are thus key issues with both ecological and economical
implications. The present paper addresses the question of the extending and the
nature of natural selection on wood related genes in Eucalyptus urophylla,
a tropical tree species with key economical importance. We conducted a genetic
study on an E. urophylla population from Timor Island using a set of 17
SSR characterized on a main sample of 43 individuals and six candidate genes
sequenced on a subset of 18 individuals. The candidate genes include three
cellulose synthase genes (EuCesA1, EuCesA2 and EuCesA3), and three genes involved in lignin synthesis (EuCAD2, EuC4H1 and EuC4H2).
Based on SSR data, the investigated population appeared to have no structure
and have undergone past population expansion. Accounting for this demographic
history, we were able to draw neutral expectation for polymorphism distribution
on candidate genes and to determine their potential selective status. We hence
identified two gene portions exhibiting unexpected polymorphism pattern,
consistent with natural selection imprint.