WP 3 Comparative Genomics to understand conifer evolution and achieving effective management and breeding
Leader Dr. María-Teresa Cervera (INIA-CIFOR)
Objectives:
Integration of genomic resources developed in different model conifer species on both continents to perform comparative studies for understanding their evolution and an effective transfer of information to enable the study of other conifer species. Comparative analysis will be carried not only using information generated within the framework of this proposal but also from NoE EVOLTREE, the "Swedish spruce genome project" and Plant-KBBE-2009 SUSTAINPINE, as well as North American genomics projects.
Main focus
- Identification of COS markers based on transcriptomics data comparison and cDNA relative position in pine and spruce genetic linkage maps. To reach this goal, information will be provided by ongoing projects.
- Evaluate the level of synteny and conservation of gene order in Pinaceae, the most important among the eight families of the order Coniferales (conifers), applying comparative mapping to orthologous gene-based saturated genetic maps.
- Evaluate if the colinearity observed at chromosomal level is further retained at the molecular level based on genome sequence data at BAC level and at whole genome level. This analysis will also include comparison of content and distribution of different elements (such as repetitive sequences, retrotransposons, genes and non-coding regions of the genome etc).
- Infer gene and sRNA function based on comparative transcriptomics to improve the understanding of complex relationships between genome sequences and phenotypes and how they evolve across the species.
