Genomics of western redcedar (Thuja plicata)
department or school: Science, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Shalev, Tal James
issued: 2022-09-29T21:04:06Z
issued: 2022
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Western redcedar (WRC; Thuja plicata) is an ecologically, culturally, and economically important tree species. It is a key successional tree species and a major component of old-growth stands in its range, has been revered and used by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest of North America for millennia, and represents a $1.1B industry. WRC is unique among conifers in that it readily self-fertilizes (selfs) and does not appear to be affected by inbreeding depression for most fitness traits. Further, its tolerance of environmental stressors makes it a focal tree species for future range expansion due to climate change. Development of genomic resources and methods for conifers and other trees has become fundamental over the last decade for better understanding their biology and expediting tree improvement programs for growth and defense traits. As operational forestry shifts from old-growth to second-growth harvesting, using genomic data to better understand the population genetics, demography, and important growth and defense traits of WRC is essential. In this thesis I present novel genomic resources for WRC. These are then used to explore genetic diversity, mating system, and terpene chemistry traits associated with defense against ungulate browsing and fungal pathogens. I found that the genetic diversity of WRC is exceptionally low for a continuous tree species of its range size, likely due to range expansion from a single glacial refugium and its unique self-compatibility. Analysis of selfing lines revealed that WRC’s adaptability and responsiveness to selection may be due to balancing selection as a result of its demography. Further, not only does WRC show limited inbreeding depression for growth, terpene chemistry, or dendrochronological traits, but appropriate selection intensity can mitigate the effects of inbreeding for growth traits. I found that terpene synthase (TPS) genes in WRC occupy a unique clade from other conifers, and that many loci were associate…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/82796
note: GENOMICS OF WESTERN REDCEDAR (THUJA PLICATA) by Tal James Shalev BSc, The University of British Columbia, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Genome Science and Technology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) September 2022 © Tal James Shalev, 2022 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Genomics of western redcedar (Thuja plicata) submitted by Tal James Shalev in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology Examining Committee: Dr. Joerg Bohlmann, Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories, UBC Supervisor Dr. Loren Rieseberg, Professor, Botany, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Amy Angert, Professor, Botany, UBC University Examiner Dr. Michael Russello, Professor, Biology, UBC-O University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dr. Michael Whitlock, Professor, Zoology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Alvin Yanchuk, Team Lead Forest Genetics, BC Ministry of Forests Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Western redcedar (WRC; Thuja plicata) is an ecologically, culturally, and economically important tree species. It is a key successional tree species and a major component of old-growth stands in its range, has been revered and used by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest of North America for millennia, and represents a $1.1B industry. WRC is unique among conifers in that it readily self-fertilizes (selfs) and does not appear to be affected by inbreeding depression for most fitness traits. Further, its tolerance of environmental stressors makes it a focal tree species for future range expansion due to climate change. Development of genomic resources and methods for conifers and other trees has become fundamental over the last d…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0421045
language: eng
degree discipline: Genome Science and Technology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Bohlmann, Jörg
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82796