| Autor: |
Harper AL; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK., McKinney LV; Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark., Nielsen LR; Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark., Havlickova L; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK., Li Y; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK., Trick M; Computational and Systems Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK., Fraser F; Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK., Wang L; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK., Fellgett A; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK., Sollars ES; School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK., Janacek SH; The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich, UK., Downie JA; Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK., Buggs RJ; School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK., Kjær ED; Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark., Bancroft I; Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK. |
| Abstrakt: |
Tree disease epidemics are a global problem, impacting food security, biodiversity and national economies. The potential for conservation and breeding in trees is hampered by complex genomes and long lifecycles, with most species lacking genomic resources. The European Ash tree Fraxinus excelsior is being devastated by the fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which causes ash dieback disease. Taking this system as an example and utilizing Associative Transcriptomics for the first time in a plant pathology study, we discovered gene sequence and gene expression variants across a genetic diversity panel scored for disease symptoms and identified markers strongly associated with canopy damage in infected trees. Using these markers we predicted phenotypes in a test panel of unrelated trees, successfully identifying individuals with a low level of susceptibility to the disease. Co-expression analysis suggested that pre-priming of defence responses may underlie reduced susceptibility to ash dieback. |
