Allelic variation in candidate genes associated with wood properties of cultivated poplars (Populus)

Since Populus has veritable value as timber, plywood, pulp, and paper, genomic research should create the sound basis for further breeding toward desirable wood quality attributes.

In this study, we addressed the need for a research methodology that initially identifies and then characterize candidate genes encoding enzymes with wood property phenotypic traits, toward the aim of developing a genomics-based breeding technology.

On 23 different poplar species/hybrid samples, we successfully amplified 55 primers designed on Populus trichocarpa L. Considering the number of polymorphic sites, out of 73,206 bp, 51 SNPs and 31 indel events were found. Non-synonymous single base mutations could be detected in number of 30, 21 out of 164 sequences were the number of minimum recombination events and 41 significant pairwise comparisons between loci could be detected.

Our results provide a roadmap for a future association genetic study between nucleotide diversity and precise evaluation of phenotype.