在线发表于《自然-遗传学》的一项报告公布了与黑色白杨树受气候影响所产生的进化有关的数个基因。该项研究或有助于在全球气候变化影响下对植物的天然种群的保护。

此次研究的对象毛果杨是分布于美国阿拉斯加州至墨西哥北部一带的黑色白杨树种，其个体种群早已适应了目前所处的特殊环境。毛果杨属于柳树家族的最大成员，其通常用作木材和燃料，在当地的生态系统中具有重要影响。

Stephen DiFazio和Gerald Tuskan等人研究了英属哥伦比亚、华盛顿、俄勒冈和加利福尼亚等四个地区的544棵黑色白杨树的基因组以找出环境是如何通过时间塑造这些树的进化的。研究人员最终确定了397个基因组，这些基因组在不同种群中有着差异，并根据树木近期所处的环境产生了相对变化。这些基因组很可能含有对受气候控制的特性比如树高、温度耐受性和年内关键生长时期的选择等有重要影响的基因。（来源：生物360）

Population genomics of Populus trichocarpa identifies signatures of selection

 and adaptive trait associations

Abstract  Forest trees are dominant components of terrestrial ecosystems that have global ecological and economic importance. Despite distributions that span wide environmental gradients, many tree populations are locally adapted, and mechanisms underlying this adaptation are poorly understood. Here we use a combination of whole-genome selection scans and association analyses of 544 Populus trichocarpa trees to reveal genomic bases of adaptive variation across a wide latitudinal range. Three hundred ninety-seven genomic regions showed evidence of recent positive and/or divergent selection and enrichment for associations with adaptive traits that also displayed patterns consistent with natural selection. These regions also provide unexpected insights into the evolutionary dynamics of duplicated genes and their roles in adaptive trait variation.

原文链接：http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.3075.html