A recent study details the genome of the highly prized white oak.
The white oak (Quercus alba) is a keystone species in eastern North American forests, valued for its economic, ecological, and cultural significance. Despite its abundance, the species is experiencing a decline in seedling recruitment across much of its range.
In a study published in New Phytologist, researchers from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Indiana University, the University of Kentucky, the U.S. Forest Service, and other institutions have mapped the species’ complex genome for the first time. Their findings offer new insights into plant evolution, tree breeding, and genetic improvement, providing valuable information for forest management and conservation efforts.
Lead authors Meg Staton, an associate professor of bioinformatics and computational genomics at the University of Tennessee, and Drew Larson, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University, collaborated with scientists from academia, the U.S. Forest Service, state forests, and industry to collect and analyze genetic sequence data representative of white oak populations.
Also central to the effort were Seth DeBolt, professor of horticulture and director of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at the University of Kentucky, and Dana Nelson of the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station and director of the Forest Health Research and Education Center at the University of Kentucky.
Genetic Diversity and Evolutionary Insights
Says Staton and her co-authors in the paper, “The white oak genome represents a major new resource for studying genome diversity and evolution in Quercus. Also, unbiased gene annotation is key to accurately assessing R [disease resistance] gene evolution in Quercus.”
The paper addresses the extent of the genetic diversity and population differentiation in Q. alba, and how gene content and disease resistance genes appear to have evolved during the history of Quercus and related taxa. The authors also discuss phylogenetic hypotheses – how oak species are evolutionarily related – as supported by whole genome data.
The study notes that the amount of standing genetic variation and the extent to which populations are locally adapted will have implications for the response of Q. alba and other white oak species to increasingly prevalent heat and drought stress. The details of this study are of interest to those invested in the sustainability of white oak across economic, ecological, and cultural boundaries.
Reference: “A haplotype-resolved reference genome of Quercus alba sheds light on the evolutionary history of oaks” by Drew A. Larson, Margaret E. Staton, Beant Kapoor, Nurul Islam-Faridi, Tetyana Zhebentyayeva, Shenghua Fan, Jozsef Stork, Austin Thomas, Alaa S. Ahmed, Elizabeth C. Stanton, Allan Houston, Scott E. Schlarbaum, Matthew W. Hahn, John E. Carlson, Albert G. Abbott, Seth DeBolt and C. Dana Nelson, 11 February 2025, New Phytologist.
DOI: 10.1111/nph.20463
Part of the project was sponsored by Makers Mark Distillery and Independent Stave Company. The white oak tree whose genome was sequenced for the study is from the Makers Mark campus in Loretto, Kentucky.
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