Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Sep;191(4):1041-1053.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03769.x. Epub 2011 May 24.

The molecular basis of quantitative variation in foliar secondary metabolites in Eucalyptus globulus

Carsten Külheim  1 , Suat Hui Yeoh  1   2 , Ian R Wallis  1 , Shawn Laffan  3 , Gavin F Moran  1 , William J Foley  1
Affiliations
Free article

The molecular basis of quantitative variation in foliar secondary metabolites in Eucalyptus globulus

Carsten Külheim et al. New Phytol. 2011 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Eucalyptus is characterized by high foliar concentrations of plant secondary metabolites with marked qualitative and quantitative variation within a single species. Secondary metabolites in eucalypts are important mediators of a diverse community of herbivores. We used a candidate gene approach to investigate genetic associations between 195 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 24 candidate genes and 33 traits related to secondary metabolites in the Tasmanian Blue Gum (Eucalyptus globulus). We discovered 37 significant associations (false discovery rate (FDR) Q < 0.05) across 11 candidate genes and 19 traits. The effects of SNPs on phenotypic variation were within the expected range (0.018 < r(2) < 0.061) for forest trees. Whereas most marker effects were nonadditive, two alleles from two consecutive genes in the methylerythritol phosphate pathway (MEP) showed additive effects. This study successfully links allelic variants to ecologically important phenotypes which can have a large impact on the entire community. It is one of very few studies to identify the genetic variants of a foundation tree that influences ecosystem function.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Albinsky D, Sawada Y, Kuwahara A, Nagano M, Hirai A, Saito K, Hirai MY. 2010. Widely targeted metabolomics and coexpression analysis as tools to identify genes involved in the side-chain elongation steps of aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis. Amino Acids 39: 1067-1075.
    1. Allen BE, Banthorpe DV. 1981. Terpene biosynthesis. 28. Partial-purification and properties of prenyltransferase from Pisum sativum. Phytochemistry 20: 35-40.
    1. Andrew RL, Wallis IR, Harwood CE, Foley WJ. 2010. Genetic and environmental contributions to variation and population divergence in a broad-spectrum foliar defence of Eucalyptus tricarpa. Annals of Botany 105: 707-717.
    1. Andrew RL, Wallis IR, Harwood CE, Henson M, Foley WJ. 2007. Heritable variation in the foliar secondary metabolite sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus confers cross-resistance to herbivores. Oecologia 153: 891-901.
    1. Bailey JK, Hendry AP, Kinnison MT, Post DM, Palkovacs EP, Pelletier F, Harmon LJ, Schweitzer JA. 2009. From genes to ecosystems: an emerging synthesis of eco-evolutionary dynamics. New Phytologist 184: 746-749.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources