Chloroplast DNA analysis in oak stands (Quercus robur L.) in North Rhine-Westphalia with presumably Slavonian origin: Is there an association between geographic origin and bud phenology?

Slavonian oaks (Quercus robur subsp. slavonica) have been introduced into Germany in the second half of the 19th century from the lowlands of the rivers Save and Drava in today’s Croatia. If compared to indigenous oak stands, they are characterized by good growth, comparatively low seed production and a late bud burst. Based on the information of European-wide variation patterns at chloroplast DNA markers in oaks we adapted chloroplast microsatellites for the analysis of all oak stands of presumably Slavonian origin in the Münsterland and lower Rhine regions. We were able to distinguish between Slavonian haplotypes with no natural occurrence in the study area and indigenous types that do not occur in the Balkan region. A generally high differentiation among stands was observed at chloroplast markers (GST = 0.674). Based on the haplotype information and historic records we found that stands with Slavonian material have been established between the years 1878 and 1903. In a total of 910 analysed trees the Slavonian haplotypes 5, 2 or 17 were the most frequent ones but a considerable amount of samples with indigenous haplotype 1 or haplotype10 with presumed origin in Southwestern Europe was also present. A clear association between haplotype 2 and late bud burst was detected in adult stands and in a field trial established with seeds from Slavonian and indigenous oak stands. The information about the haplotype composition in all Slavonian stands can be used as reference for the certification of reproductive material. The analysis of cpDNA haploytpes in old oak stands that had been established before the introduction of foreign seed material can give valuable information for the identification of indigenous oak stands

A fast and cost-effective approach to develop and map EST-SSR markers: oak as a case study

Background: Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) are a source of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that can be used to develop molecular markers for genetic studies. The availability of ESTs for Quercus robur and Quercus petraea provided a unique opportunity to develop microsatellite markers to accelerate research aimed at studying adaptation of these long-lived species to their environment. As a first step toward the construction of a SSR-based linkage map of oak for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, we describe the mining and survey of EST-SSRs as well as a fast and cost-effective approach (bin mapping) to assign these markers to an approximate map position. We also compared the level of polymorphism between genomic and EST-derived SSRs and address the transferability of EST-SSRs in Castanea sativa (chestnut). Results: A catalogue of 103,000 Sanger ESTs was assembled into 28,024 unigenes from which 18.6% presented one or more SSR motifs. More than 42% of these SSRs corresponded to trinucleotides. Primer pairs were designed for 748 putative unigenes. Overall 37.7% (283) were found to amplify a single polymorphic locus in a reference fullsib pedigree of Quercus robur. The usefulness of these loci for establishing a genetic map was assessed using a bin mapping approach. Bin maps were constructed for the male and female parental tree for which framework linkage maps based on AFLP markers were available. The bin set consisting of 14 highly informative offspring selected based on the number and position of crossover sites. The female and male maps comprised 44 and 37 bins, with an average bin length of 16.5 cM and 20.99 cM, respectively. A total of 256 EST-SSRs were assigned to bins and their map position was further validated by linkage mapping. EST-SSRs were found to be less polymorphic than genomic SSRs, but their transferability rate to chestnut, a phylogenetically related species to oak, was higher. Conclusion: We have generated a bin map for oak comprising 256 EST-SSRs. This resource constitutes a first step toward the establishment of a gene-based map for this genus that will facilitate the dissection of QTLs affecting complex traits of ecological importance

The Grizzly, April 12, 2018

The Distance Between Us : Ursinus Welcomes Mexican-American Author Reyna Grande • Lantern Launch Celebrates All Things Creative About Ursinus • Berman Museum Opens Annual Student Exhibition • International Perspective: Easter Festivities in Prague Recall Student\u27s Childhood Celebrations • Senior Awarded Fulbright Scholarship • Students Present at Celebration of Student Achievement • Summer Looks Bright for Dr. Lori Daggar • Opinions: Ursinus Needs More Science Labs for Humanities Students; Facebook\u27s Data Scandal Reveals Need for Privacy Protection • Men\u27s Lax Maintains Optimism Amid Rocky Season • T&F Impresses in Outdoor Openerhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1644/thumbnail.jp

Tree islands enhance biodiversity and functioning in oil palm landscapes

In the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration1, large knowledge gaps persist on how to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in cash crop-dominated tropical landscapes2. Here, we present findings from a large-scale, 5-year ecosystem restoration experiment in an oil palm landscape enriched with 52 tree islands, encompassing assessments of ten indicators of biodiversity and 19 indicators of ecosystem functioning. Overall, indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality, were higher in tree islands compared to conventionally managed oil palm. Larger tree islands led to larger gains in multidiversity through changes in vegetation structure. Furthermore, tree enrichment did not decrease landscape-scale oil palm yield. Our results demonstrate that enriching oil palm-dominated landscapes with tree islands is a promising ecological restoration strategy, yet should not replace the protection of remaining forests

Chloroplasts

© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Photosynthesis takes place in chloroplasts, lens-shaped plastids found in green algae and higher plants. Chloroplasts originated from prokaryotic symbionts; they contain circular DNA molecules (chloroplast DNA (cpDNA)) in multiple copies that code for -100 genes or even less in certain species. Only a fraction of the enzymes active in chloroplasts is coded by cpDNA; nuclear genes control many functions and structures of chloroplasts. Accordingly, chloroplasts are semiautonomous cell organelles. Comparatively, low mutation rates and the uniparental inheritance (typically maternal in most angiosperms and paternal in gymnosperms) of cpDNA promote the investigation of cpDNA variation for phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies. Short cpDNA fragments are increasingly used for species identification based on molecular methods (DNA barcoding) in plants. Chloroplast transformation offers advantages with regard to biosafety issues for angiosperms in comparison to the genetic transformation of the nucleus since transgenes are less likely to escape via pollen