Genetic Relationships and Artificial Hybridization within the Forest Trees

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 8302

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
SKInstitute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology PSBC SAS Nitra, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: genetic relationships; population genetics

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Guest Editor
Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Interests: quantitative genetics; tree breeding; hybrids; wood properties; NIR spectroscopy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Within context of the biological species' concept, the artificial hybridization of plants serves as a useful tool in estimating the genetic relationships between species. Genetically, the interspecific hybrids are thought to harbour greater variation than corresponding parental species what endows them a higher adaptability towards unusual habitats. Advanced generation hybrids are likely to have even a greater range of genetic variation due to segregation after the first generation. Genetic variation in genome size of the hybrids and in their parental species is believed to be positively related to the phylogenetic distance between the parental species. However, general combining abilities estimated from pure species combinations and from hybrid combinations do not always seem compatible. Therefore, further estimates of these parameters are necessary to help the breeders in making better long-term decisions. Of practical importance is also the value of hybrids in increasing wood production and in improving wood quality for the forest industry. The interspecific hybrid trees planted throughout the world on a commercial basis are most common in genera Acacia, Eucalyptus, Larix, Picea, Pinus and Populus. A reliable validation of the hybrids together with prediction of hybrid performance and fitness are important aspects in deciding on the optimal hybrid breeding strategy. They should be taken into account when preparing the manuscripts on the subject.

Dr. Andrej Kormuťák
Prof. Dr. Gary R. Hodge
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • forest trees
  • species
  • crossability
  • fertility
  • performance

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2970 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Genetics of a Hybrid Population of Eucalyptus nitens × Eucalyptus globulus: Estimation of Genetic Parameters and Implications for Breeding Strategies
by Luis Ibarra, Gary Hodge and Juan José Acosta
Forests 2023, 14(2), 381; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f14020381 - 13 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1767
Abstract
In Chile, interspecific hybrids between Eucalyptus nitens × Eucalyptus globulus (GloNi) were developed by Arauco Forestry to capture specific traits from each parental species: growth rate and cold resistance from E. nitens (NIT) and wood properties from E. globulus (GLO). Field tests of [...] Read more.
In Chile, interspecific hybrids between Eucalyptus nitens × Eucalyptus globulus (GloNi) were developed by Arauco Forestry to capture specific traits from each parental species: growth rate and cold resistance from E. nitens (NIT) and wood properties from E. globulus (GLO). Field tests of E. nitens × E. globulus were distributed in two geographic zones: Arauco (12 tests) and Valdivia (15 tests), where growth and wood properties measurements were recorded at different ages. The hybrid population is composed of clones from 28 full-sib families, being the result of crossing 12 E. nitens females and 8 E. globulus males. Progeny from each of these families were vegetatively propagated and tested on each growth zone, with a total of 1214 clones developed. The quantitative genetic parameter estimates reveal high genetic variation in hybrid volume gain and wood properties, which make possible large genetic gain in all traits analyzed. Additionally, E. nitens has a considerable impact on the volume gain of the hybrid, making it important to test more parents in future interspecific crosses in both hybrid zones. In contrast, E. globulus demonstrated zero impact in volume. In wood traits, E. globulus in Arauco zone demonstrates a large effect on the genetic variability of these traits; meanwhile, in the Valdivia zone, E. nitens and E. globulus parents contributed roughly similar amounts of genetic variation. The high General Hybridizing Ability (GHA) and General Combining Ability (GCA) relationship between hybrid progeny and pure species progeny performance indicates that parents could be selected for interspecific crosses based on pure species test results for volume and wood properties. Full article
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14 pages, 1593 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Morphological and Physiological Traits between Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis, and Their Vigorous F1 Hybrids
by Naomi Houminer, Joseph Riov, Menachem Moshelion, Yagil Osem and Rakefet David-Schwartz
Forests 2022, 13(9), 1477; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f13091477 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1449
Abstract
Hybrids between Pinus brutia Ten. and Pinus halepensis Mill. have mainly been investigated with respect to their growth rate. Less attention has been paid to factors that contribute to their resistance to drought, although the hybrids have been shown to thrive over P. [...] Read more.
Hybrids between Pinus brutia Ten. and Pinus halepensis Mill. have mainly been investigated with respect to their growth rate. Less attention has been paid to factors that contribute to their resistance to drought, although the hybrids have been shown to thrive over P. brutia in semi-arid regions. To understand the superior hybrid phenotype, we investigated morphological traits, growth parameters, and physiological response to drought stress in P. brutia, P. halepensis, and their vigorous hybrids. Rooted cuttings were propagated from mature trees and were examined in a high-throughput gravimetric system to evaluate their response to drought. Higher root-to-shoot ratio, needle length, and leaf mass per area (LMA) were observed in the hybrids compared to the two parental species. P. halepensis demonstrated higher transpiration rates (E) and stomatal conductance (gsc) than P. brutia, and an earlier reduction in E and gsc in response to drought stress. Similar to P. brutia, the hybrids showed low E and gsc, and an early stomatal closure in response to drought similar to P. halepensis. Our study suggests that the hybrids exhibit a unique combination of traits that may contribute to forest resilience in semi-arid regions undergoing climate change. Full article
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13 pages, 3710 KiB  
Article
Geographic Cline and Genetic Introgression Effects on Seed Morphology Variation and Germination Fitness in Two Closely Related Pine Species in Southeast Asia
by Zheng-Ren Zhang, Wei-Ying Li, Yi-Yi Dong, Jing-Xin Liu, Qin-Ying Lan, Xue Yang, Pei-Yao Xin and Jie Gao
Forests 2022, 13(3), 374; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f13030374 - 23 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2445
Abstract
There is still limited information on how genetic introgression impacts morphological variation and population fitness in long-lived conifer species. Two closely related pine species, Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon and Pinus yunnanensis Franch. are widely distributed over Southeast Asia and Yunnan province of [...] Read more.
There is still limited information on how genetic introgression impacts morphological variation and population fitness in long-lived conifer species. Two closely related pine species, Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon and Pinus yunnanensis Franch. are widely distributed over Southeast Asia and Yunnan province of China, with a large spatial scale of asymmetric genetic introgression and hybridization, and form a hybrid lineage, P. kesiya var. langbianensis, where their ranges overlap in southeast Yunnan. We compared seed trait variation and germination performance between hybrids and parental species and characterized environmental gradients to investigate the genetic and ecological evolutionary consequences of genetic introgression. We found that seed width (SW) differed significantly among the three pines, and all the seed traits were significantly negatively correlated with latitude and associated with the mean temperatures of the driest and wettest quarters. A higher germination fitness of hybrids was detected at a low temperature, indicating that they had better adaptability to temperature stress than their parental species during the germination process. Our results suggest that environmental factors shape seed phenotypic variation in the pine species and that genetic introgression significantly affects seed germination fitness. Therefore, assisting gene flow in natural forest populations might facilitate their adaptation to climate change. Full article
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14 pages, 2763 KiB  
Article
Molecular Insight into Genetic Structure and Diversity of Putative Hybrid Swarms of Pinus sylvestris × P. mugo in Slovakia
by Miroslav Klobucnik, Martin Galgoci, Dusan Gomory and Andrej Kormutak
Forests 2022, 13(2), 205; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f13020205 - 28 Jan 2022
Viewed by 1820
Abstract
The genetic structures of the four putative hybrid swarms of Pinus sylvestris × P. mugo in Slovakia were analyzed in terms of individual admixture proportions calculated via inter-primer binding site (iPBS) marker loci. This work aimed to reevaluate the hybrid swarms’ differentiation [...] Read more.
The genetic structures of the four putative hybrid swarms of Pinus sylvestris × P. mugo in Slovakia were analyzed in terms of individual admixture proportions calculated via inter-primer binding site (iPBS) marker loci. This work aimed to reevaluate the hybrid swarms’ differentiation status as postulated in the previous studies at both population and genomic levels. The study confirmed intermediate divergence of each of the swarms examined. Based on 80-loci hybrid index scores, we have revealed the presence of introgressive and intermediate hybrids with frequencies corresponding to differentiation estimates. Surprisingly, irrespective of individual phenotypes, the most frequent intermediates were found in Sucha Hora (29.5%) and Obsivanka (28.6%) populations, which resemble rather pure P. mugo and were previously considered as bimodal hybrid zones with a negligible amount of hybrids. The remaining hybrid zone population Zuberec seems to be highly introgressed to P. sylvestris, while Tisovnica is clearly inclined to P. mugo. The results and different methodologies are discussed. Full article
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