Genetic Diversity of Wild Apple Accessions in the National Plant Germplasm System


NRI Award #2005-35300-15466
PI: Gayle Volk, CoPI: Christopher Richards, Collaborator: Phil Forsline
USDA-ARS-National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation
Plant Germplasm Preservation Research Unit
Ft. Collins, CO 80525
E-mail: gvolk@lamar.colostate.edu
Telephone: 970-495-3205


Accomplishments:
  • Quantify and apportion genetic diversity in collections of wild relatives of Malus.
    This objective has been met for a set of population comprised of 949 individuals of M. sieversii and for a set of populations comprised of 497 individuals of M. orientalis. Genotyping is complete for ~ 500 Chinese Malus individuals and data analysis is underway.
  • Identify a group of individuals that represents the overall genetic diversity of wild Malus collections with the fewest number of individuals.
    This objective has been met for the M. sieversii collections and data analysis is underway for other Malus species.
Broad Impacts:
  • Core collections of Malus sieversii populations in Geneva, NY have been utilized by multiple different research groups to identify diverse and useful sources of drought tolerance and other phenotypic traits.
  • The genetic diversity of more than 500 M. sieversii individuals has been captured in the form of seeds after performing controlled pollinations among the core collection individuals.
  • An increased inclusion of NPGS materials, resources, and personnel included in US Rosaceae genomics research.
  • The addition of molecular tables to GDR and GRIN to contain SSR data.
  • Novel data analysis techniques for diversity analyses have been developed.
Deliverables:
  • Publications
  • Richards CM, Volk GM, Reilley AA, Henk AD, Lockwood D, Reeves PA, Forsline PL. (2008) Genetic diversity and population structure in Malus sieversii, a wild progenitor species of domesticated apple. Submitted to Tree Genetics and Genomics
  • Volk GM, Richards CM, Reilley AA, Henk AD, Reeves PA, Forsline PL, Aldwinckle HS (2008) Genetic diversity of wild Malus orientalis from Turkey and southern Russia. Submitted to J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci.
  • Richards CM, Volk GM, Reeves PA, Reilley AA, Henk AD, Forsline PL (2008) Development of core collections for Malus sieversii populations collected in Kazakhstan. In preparation.
  • Volk GM, Richards CM, Fazio G, Henk AD, Reilley AA, Simon C, Forsline PL (2008) Genetic diversity and ploidy levels for Malus species collected in China. In preparation.
  • Presentations
  • Volk GM, Genetic diversity and population structure in Malus sieversii, a wild progenitor species of the cultivated apple. Cornell University, September 2006
  • Richards CM. Population genetics of ex situ conservation, Department of Soil and Crop Science, CSU, October 2005
  • Richards CM. Genetic history and differentiation in gene bank collections Department of Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, October 2005
  • Richards CM. Population genetics of the ex situ process. Denver Botanical Garden course in conservation genetics, June 2006
  • Richards CM. Inferring structure in admixed populations. Seminar in plant biotechnology for Department of Soil and Crop Science, CSU, October 2006
  • Richards CM. Population genetics of gene banks: linking in situ and ex situ conservation. Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, October 2007
  • Meeting Abstracts
  • Volk GM, Richards CM, Henk AD, Reilley AA, Reeves PA, Forsline PL, Aldwinckle HS (2008) Genetic diversity of wild Malus orientalis. Plant and Animal Genome, San Diego, CA.
  • Forsline PL, Aldwinckle HS, Volk GM, Richards CM, Janisiewicz W, Fazio G (2007) Progress in evaluating Malus sieversii for disease-resistance and horticultural traits. Eucarpia, Spain.
  • Volk GM, Ricahrds CM, Henk AD, Reilley AA, Forsline PL (2007) Genetic diversity of the Malus sieversii collection in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci., Scottsdale, AZ.
  • Volk GM, Richards CM, Forsline PL (2006) Characterization of wild Malus populations using genotypic and phenotypic traits. 3rd International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, Napier, New Zealand.
  • Forsline PL, Fazio G, Aldwinckle H, Iezzoni AF, Volk GM (2006) Diversity and characterization in USDA Malus and tetraploid cherry germplasm in Geneva, NY. 3rd International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, Napier, New Zealand.
  • Richards CM, Henk AD, Reilley AA, Forsline PL, Volk GM (2006) Patterns of Molecular and Quantitative Trait Variation in Malus sieversii from Kazakhstan. Plant and Animal Genome, San Diego, CA.
  • Norelli JL, Korban SS, Volk GM, Zeng Z-B, Aldwinckle HS, Bassett CL, Beever J, Farrell RE, Gasic K, Han Y, Kertbundit S, Marron B, Richards CM (2006) USDACSREES- NRI Projects Developing Genomic Resources for the Rosaceae (Malus). Plant and Animal Genome, San Diego, CA.
  • Community resources generated (sequences, populations, plant materials, etc)
  • Core collections established for M. sieversii populations.
  • Seed populations made available to represent diversity of Kazakhstan collection sites 6 and 9.
  • Training:
  • Ann Caspersen (technical): DNA processing
  • Kanin Routsen (graduate student): DNA extraction, fragment analysis, data analysis
Collaborations:

Genarro Fazio (USDA Geneva), Herb Aldwinckle (Cornell U.), Santiago Perera Lorenzo (Spain), Discussions/DNA exchanges: Eric van de Weg, Francois Laurens