Grain carbon isotope composition is a marker for allocation and harvest index in wheat.

The natural C abundance (δ C) in plant leaves has been used for decades with great success in agronomy to monitor water-use efficiency and select modern cultivars adapted to dry conditions. However, in wheat, it is also important to find genotypes with high carbon allocation to spikes and grains, and thus with a high harvest index (HI) and/or low carbon losses via respiration. Finding isotope-based markers of carbon partitioning to grains would be extremely useful since isotope analyses are inexpensive and can be performed routinely at high throughput.

Breeding for Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Wheat Varieties: An Integrated Approach from Genomics to Selection.

There is currently a strong societal demand for sustainability, quality, and safety in bread wheat production. To address these challenges, new and innovative knowledge, resources, tools, and methods to facilitate breeding are needed. This starts with the development of high throughput genomic tools including single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, high density molecular marker maps, and full genome sequences.

Imprints of natural selection along environmental gradients in phenology-related genes of Quercus petraea.

We explored single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variation in candidate genes for bud burst from Quercus petraea populations sampled along gradients of latitude and altitude in Western Europe. SNP diversity was monitored for 106 candidate genes, in 758 individuals from 32 natural populations. We investigated whether SNP variation reflected the clinal pattern of bud burst observed in common garden experiments.

Transcriptional profiling of bud dormancy induction and release in oak by next-generation sequencing.

Background: In temperate regions, the time lag between vegetative bud burst and bud set determines the duration of the growing season of trees (i.e. the duration of wood biomass production).

Bioinformatic analysis of ESTs collected by Sanger and pyrosequencing methods for a keystone forest tree species: oak.

Background: The Fagaceae family comprises about 1,000 woody species worldwide. About half belong to the Quercus family. These oaks are often a source of raw material for biomass wood and fiber.

Transcriptional changes in two types of pre-mycorrhizal roots and in ectomycorrhizas of oak microcuttings inoculated with Piloderma croceum.

The formation of the ectomycorrhiza implies an alteration in gene expression of both the plant and fungal partners, a process which starts before the formation of any symbiotic interface. However, little is known on the regulation pattern occurring in different parts of the root system. Our experimental system consisting of a micropropagated oak with a hierarchical root system was shown to exhibit symbiosis functional traits prior to any mycorrhizal tissue differentiation after the inoculation with the basidiomycete Piloderma croceum.

Transcriptome analysis of bud burst in sessile oak (Quercus petraea).

Expression patterns of hundreds of transcripts in apical buds were monitored during bud flushing in sessile oak (Quercus petraea), in order to identify genes differentially expressed between the quiescent and active stage of bud development. Different transcriptomic techniques combining the construction of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) libraries and the monitoring of gene expression using macroarray and real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed to dissect bud burst, with a special emphasis on the onset of the process. We generated 801 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from six developmental stages of bud burst.

Comparison of quantitative trait loci for adaptive traits between oak and chestnut based on an expressed sequence tag consensus map.

A comparative genetic and QTL mapping was performed between Quercus robur L. and Castanea sativa Mill., two major forest tree species belonging to the Fagaceae family.