Plant Genome II Conference
Town & Country Conference Center, San Diego, CA, January, 1994.
PG-II: USING DNA MARKERS TO ACCELERATE BREEDING IN FOREST TREES
USING DNA MARKERS TO ACCELERATE BREEDING IN FOREST TREES
R. Sederoff 1, 3, D. Grattapaglia 1, 3, J.X. Chaparro 2, P.
Wilcox 1, S. McCord 1, B.S. Crane 1, C. Plomion 1, H. Amerson 1,
S. McKeand 1, F. Bridgwater 1, B. Goldfarb 1, R.
Whetten 1, B.-H. Liu 1, 4, D. M. O'Malley 1. The Forest
Biotechnology Group, and the Departments of Forestry 1,
Horticulture 2, Genetics 3, and Statistics 4, North Carolina
State University, 27695
Forest trees have long generation times and are still in the
earliest stages of domestication. They are typically highly
heterogeneous and few extended pedigrees are available. Because
of these limitations, there is a relatively greater potential for
DNA markers to improve genetic analysis and to accelerate
breeding in forest trees, compared to highly domesticated crops.
However, for many years, DNA markers have not been applied to
practical tree improvement due to technical and theoretical
limitations. High levels of heterozygosity and linkage
equilibrium of markers in populations, were considered to be
serious limitations. Furthermore, no coherent theoretical
framework existed for application of DNA markers to improvement,
due to reservations about the value of marker aided selection.
It was also argued that QTLs might not exist in forest trees.
Recent progress in forest genetics will be presented to show 1)
PCR based DNA markers can be used widely to map individual forest
trees, 2) QTLs have been identified in forest trees for
commercially important traits, and 3) A theoretical framework is
now emerging for the use of DNA markers in tree improvement.
Experimental results and strategies to use markers to predict
performance and to accelerate gain will be discussed.
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