Genomics Resources for North American Hardwoods

The eastern hardwood forests are complex biological systems, covering millions of acres.  These forests provide habitat and food for wildlife, stabilization of riparian zones, long-term carbon sequestration and other essential ecosystem services as well as wood fiber for human use.  The sustainability of these forested ecosystems is increasingly threatened by exotic pests, diseases, invasive plants, climate change and fragmentation.  Better tools are urgently needed to address forest health issues.  This collaboration of seven universities is a concerted effort to develop genomic resources and genetic tools for a braod taxonomic distribution of hardwood tree species, including yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), black walnut (Juglans nigra), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvannica).  We are producing expressed gene sequence databases, genetic markers, genetic linkage maps, and reference populations with an emphasis on tools for assessing genetic variation in growth and adaptation and responses to environmental stresses such as drought, heat, air pollution, insects and disease.  These genomics resources will permit forest managers, geneticists and ecologists to better understand and protect hardwood forests.  These resources will be available through the project website (www.hardwoodgenomics.org).  Sequence data will be deposited in GenBank, and the genetic linkage maps and associated marker data will be available at the Dendrome database (http://dendrome.ucdavis.edu/). This project is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program (grant # TRPGR IOS-1025974: “Comparative genomics of environmental stress responses in North American hardwoods”).