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Forests
Special Issues
Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques
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Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2021) | Viewed by 11676

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fulvio Ducci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Centre for Forestry and Wood - Italian Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Arezzo, Italy
Interests: forest tree breeding; forest genetic resources management and conservation; forest genetics; noble hardwoods; dendrology
Dr. Alberto Santini

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection – National Research Council, Via Madonna del Piano, 10 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Interests: forest pathology; invasive alien pathogens; conservation; breeding for resistance; genetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Tore Skrøppa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Høgskoleveien 8, 1433, Box 115 Ås, Norway
Interests: forest genetics; quantitative genetics; tree breeding; management and conservation of forest genetic resources

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Too often underestimated even by the forestry world, genetic diversity provides the fundamental basis for the evolution of forest trees and their adaptation to changes. The conservation of forest genetic resources (FGR) in general and of broadleaved species in particular is therefore vital, as they are a unique and irreplaceable resource for the future, to be treated as an integrated element of an overall sustainable forest management.

Their conservation and sustainable management should be promoted in multidisciplinary programmes worldwide. In this context, lack of information can limit the capacity of scientific and stakeholder communities to integrate their management into coordinated actions to face the present challenges, and reliable scientific knowledge is of great importance to reach the target. In addition, forestry-related information still largely refers to forest resources in general rather than to the conservation and management of genetic diversity and variation, which are severely endangered in many regions of the world. Although in the last few decades knowledge of forest sciences specifically regarding the broadleaves has reached an excellent level of quality, an increase of its dissemination is required in order to favor the implementation of strategies which address the new challenges of the present time.

In relation to the above considerations, at a period of such rapid and intense changes, we believe that the time has come to help take stock of the situation regarding the conservation and management of the genetic resources of forest broadleaves in this context. You are therefore invited to contribute to this Special Issue and to help ensure that the experience of the family of forest improvers and geneticists has not been in vain.

Dr. Fulvio Ducci
Dr. Alberto Santini
Prof. Dr. Tore Skrøppa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at mdpi.longhoe.net by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Broadleaved forest species
  • Forest genetic resources (FGR)
  • Global change effects
  • FGR inventories
  • Genetic diversity
  • Genetic variability
  • Adaptation
  • In situ conservation
  • Ex situ conservation
  • FGR management and forest management
  • Production
  • Forest tree breeding

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2241 KiB  
Article
Cryopreservation and Micropropagation Methods for Conservation of Genetic Resources of Ulmus laevis and Ulmus glabra
by Sakari Välimäki, Mari Rusanen, Daniela Pečínková, Mikko Tikkinen and Tuija Aronen
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1121; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081121 - 21 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2600
Abstract
Elms are threatened by Dutch elm disease, and conservation methods are needed to protect their genetic diversity. Cryopreservation of dormant buds allows large numbers of genotypes to be conserved with small space requirements and minimal upkeep. Cryopreservation through slow controlled cooling was tested [...] Read more.
Elms are threatened by Dutch elm disease, and conservation methods are needed to protect their genetic diversity. Cryopreservation of dormant buds allows large numbers of genotypes to be conserved with small space requirements and minimal upkeep. Cryopreservation through slow controlled cooling was tested for both elm species native to Finland, Ulmus glabra and Ulmus laevis. Regeneration of the thawed buds by micropropagation was studied on different basal media and using different growth regulators. Multiple surface sterilisation methods were tried out for bud explants. The multiplication of U. glabra was investigated with Driver and Kuniyuki walnut medium with either 0.5 mg/L meta-topolin or 0.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine. Rooting with short indole-6-butyric acid induction in liquid medium and direct transplantation of the shoots to peat ex vitro after induction were tested. For initiation, either Murashige and Skoog or Driver and Kuniyuki walnut medium with 0.02 mg/L gibberellic acid 4 + 7 and 0.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine were found to best promote shoot formation. Surface sterilisation remains the most challenging step. No significant differences were found between the multiplication media in either shoot production or rooting success. Rooting by direct transplanting was achieved in both species, but further development is required before application on a larger scale. With further improvements to sterilisation success especially in U. glabra, the method can be applied to the conservation of genetic resources of both U. laevis and U. glabra, and knowledge of regeneration success can be used to design the cryoconservation plan and optimise the sampling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques)
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16 pages, 21918 KiB  
Article
Comparative Chloroplast Genomics of Litsea Lam. (Lauraceae) and Its Phylogenetic Implications
by Yunyan Zhang, Yong**g Tian, David Y. P. Tng, **gbo Zhou, Yuntian Zhang, Zhengwei Wang, Pengfu Li and Zhongsheng Wang
Forests 2021, 12(6), 744; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12060744 - 4 Jun 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3380
Abstract
Litsea Lam. is an ecological and economic important genus of the “core Lauraceae” group in the Lauraceae. The few studies to date on the comparative chloroplast genomics and phylogenomics of Litsea have been conducted as part of other studies on the Lauraceae. Here, [...] Read more.
Litsea Lam. is an ecological and economic important genus of the “core Lauraceae” group in the Lauraceae. The few studies to date on the comparative chloroplast genomics and phylogenomics of Litsea have been conducted as part of other studies on the Lauraceae. Here, we sequenced the whole chloroplast genome sequence of Litsea auriculata, an endangered tree endemic to eastern China, and compared this with previously published chloroplast genome sequences of 11 other Litsea species. The chloroplast genomes of the 12 Litsea species ranged from 152,132 (L. szemaois) to 154,011 bp (L. garrettii) and exhibited a typical quadripartite structure with conserved genome arrangement and content, with length variations in the inverted repeat regions (IRs). No codon usage preferences were detected within the 30 codons used in the chloroplast genomes, indicating a conserved evolution model for the genus. Ten intergenic spacers (psbE–petL, trnH–psbA, petA–psbJ, ndhF–rpl32, ycf4–cemA, rpl32–trnL, ndhG–ndhI, psbC–trnS, trnE–trnT, and psbM–trnD) and five protein coding genes (ndhD, matK, ccsA, ycf1, and ndhF) were identified as divergence hotspot regions and DNA barcodes of Litsea species. In total, 876 chloroplast microsatellites were located within the 12 chloroplast genomes. Phylogenetic analyses conducted using the 51 additional complete chloroplast genomes of “core Lauraceae” species demonstrated that the 12 Litsea species grouped into four sub-clades within the Laurus-Neolitsea clade, and that Litsea is polyphyletic and closely related to the genera Lindera and Laurus. Our phylogeny strongly supported the monophyly of the following three clades (Laurus–Neolitsea, Cinnamomum–Ocotea, and Machilus–Persea) among the above investigated “core Lauraceae” species. Overall, our study highlighted the taxonomic utility of chloroplast genomes in Litsea, and the genetic markers identified here will facilitate future studies on the evolution, conservation, population genetics, and phylogeography of L. auriculata and other Litsea species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques)
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8 pages, 1107 KiB  
Communication
A Comparison of Three Circular Mitochondrial Genomes of Fagus sylvatica from Germany and Poland Reveals Low Variation and Complete Identity of the Gene Space
by Bagdevi Mishra, Bartosz Ulaszewski, Joanna Meger, Sebastian Ploch, Jaroslaw Burczyk and Marco Thines
Forests 2021, 12(5), 571; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12050571 - 1 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2154
Abstract
Similar to chloroplast loci, mitochondrial markers are frequently used for genoty**, phylogenetic studies, and population genetics, as they are easily amplified due to their multiple copies per cell. In a recent study, it was revealed that the chloroplast offers little variation for this [...] Read more.
Similar to chloroplast loci, mitochondrial markers are frequently used for genoty**, phylogenetic studies, and population genetics, as they are easily amplified due to their multiple copies per cell. In a recent study, it was revealed that the chloroplast offers little variation for this purpose in central European populations of beech. Thus, it was the aim of this study to elucidate, if mitochondrial sequences might offer an alternative, or whether they are similarly conserved in central Europe. For this purpose, a circular mitochondrial genome sequence from the more than 300-year-old beech reference individual Bhaga from the German National Park Kellerwald-Edersee was assembled using long and short reads and compared to an individual from the Jamy Nature Reserve in Poland and a recently published mitochondrial genome from eastern Germany. The mitochondrial genome of Bhaga was 504,730 bp, while the mitochondrial genomes of the other two individuals were 15 bases shorter, due to seven indel locations, with four having more bases in Bhaga and three locations having one base less in Bhaga. In addition, 19 SNP locations were found, none of which were inside genes. In these SNP locations, 17 bases were different in Bhaga, as compared to the other two genomes, while 2 SNP locations had the same base in Bhaga and the Polish individual. While these figures are slightly higher than for the chloroplast genome, the comparison confirms the low degree of genetic divergence in organelle DNA of beech in central Europe, suggesting the colonisation from a common gene pool after the Weichsel Glaciation. The mitochondrial genome might have limited use for population studies in central Europe, but once mitochondrial genomes from glacial refugia become available, it might be suitable to pinpoint the origin of migration for the re-colonising beech population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques)
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7 pages, 1957 KiB  
Communication
A Circular Chloroplast Genome of Fagus sylvatica Reveals High Conservation between Two Individuals from Germany and One Individual from Poland and an Alternate Direction of the Small Single-Copy Region
by Bagdevi Mishra, Bartosz Ulaszewski, Sebastian Ploch, Jaroslaw Burczyk and Marco Thines
Forests 2021, 12(2), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12020180 - 4 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2544
Abstract
Chloroplasts are difficult to assemble because of the presence of large inverted repeats. At the same time, correct assemblies are important, as chloroplast loci are frequently used for biogeography and population genetics studies. In an attempt to elucidate the orientation of the single-copy [...] Read more.
Chloroplasts are difficult to assemble because of the presence of large inverted repeats. At the same time, correct assemblies are important, as chloroplast loci are frequently used for biogeography and population genetics studies. In an attempt to elucidate the orientation of the single-copy regions and to find suitable loci for chloroplast single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based studies, circular chloroplast sequences for the ultra-centenary reference individual of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Bhaga, and an additional Polish individual (named Jamy) was obtained based on hybrid assemblies. The chloroplast genome of Bhaga was 158,458 bp, and that of Jamy was 158,462 bp long. Using long-read map** on the configuration inferred in this study and the one suggested in a previous study, we found an inverted orientation of the small single-copy region. The chloroplast genome of Bhaga and of the individual from Poland both have only two mismatches as well as three and two indels as compared to the previously published genome, respectively. The low divergence suggests low seed dispersal but high pollen dispersal. However, once chloroplast genomes become available from Pleistocene refugia, where a high degree of variation has been reported, they might prove useful for tracing the migration history of Fagus sylvatica in the Holocene. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadleaved Tree Species Genetic Resource Management and Conservation Techniques)
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