Population and Conservation Genomics in Forest and Fruit Trees

Abstract

Abstract Population and conservation genomics in forest and fruit trees are advancing at an accelerated rate due to the recent developments in high-throughput next-generation sequencing capabilities. Our ability to understand the wealth and structure of genetic variation in nature, plantations and orchards, and the processes of selection, adaptation and speciation will be limited in the future more by conceptual and analytical weaknesses of biostatistical tools, than by the amount of sequence data available. Population genomics are discussed considering the still elusive elucidation of quantitative and adaptive variation at the molecular level. This chapter focuses on the use of genome-wide sampling to discern evolutionary processes and the spatially explicit patterns of genomic variation. The transition from conservation genetics to conservation genomics will increase manifold our ability to select and prioritize conservation targets. Conservation genomics will lead to the identification of particular genomic regions that may have undergone natural selection and are of adaptive significance, in addition to improving the precision of genetic and demographic inferences by significantly raising the number of putatively neutral markers assayed. Comparative analysis with cultivated trees will facilitate our understanding of domestication and dispersal effects on tree genomes and the effect of tree breeding on gene selected and genome effects.