Drought is a major threat to both natural and industrial conifer forests. However, the genetic basis of drought tolerance in conifers are far from being fully understood, hampering efforts to develop varieties with improved tolerance to low water availability.
In our latest work, led by recent lab graduate Dr. Jingjia Li and with outstanding collaborators from several institutions, we performed one of the most extensive transcriptomic analyses to date in conifer trees. We collected RNA-seq data from root tissues obtained from two loblolly pine varieties with different levels of drought tolerance. Unexpectedly, we found higher levels of GxE interactions in these varieties compared to other studies in both loblolly and other seed plants, underscoring significant differences in the genes involved in drought responses between loblolly varieties.
Jingjia Li, Jason B. West, Alexander Hart, Jill L. Wegrzyn, Matthew A. Smith, Jean-Christophe Domec, Carol A. Loopstra and Claudio Casola. “Extensive Variation in Drought-Induced Gene Expression Changes Between Loblolly Pine Genotypes”. Front. Genet., 2021.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.661440