WATER - Influence of genetic variation within Pinus sylvestris and site water regime on the genetic and functional diversities of its ectomycorrhizal fungal associate Cenococcum geophilum

Start date: 2007

Activity: JERA 3

Responsible partners: P1, P13, P21

Contact persons:

Documents:   Overview   Project_Proposal

Objectives:

This project will associate the four major disciplines in Evoltree: genomics, genetics, ecology and evolution on the example of two interacting species Pinus sylvestris and its ectomycorrhizal associate Cenococcum geophilum.

Since drought is one of the global change issues of pressing concern and enhanced drought resistance of host trees through mycorrhization is one of the important functions of this symbiosis, we propose to address two main issues: 1. Is there a structuring role of the genetic variation within the model tree species P. sylvestris on the genetic and functional diversities of the associated target ectomycorrhizal species C.geophilum?

To address these questions, natural populations at different ISS sites and field trials with different clones or families of Pinus sylvestris will be studied. 2. What is the impact of the site water regime on the genetic and functional diversities of C. geophilum associated to Pinus sylvestris? We propose to address these questions by studying natural populations within ISS or ISP sites with emphasis on a drought gradient and by a field experiment with irrigation, which is present in the ISS Valais. To study functional aspects of the symbiosis and the impact of the site water regime, we propose to use transcriptomic approaches to measure gene expression in both, host tree and the mycorrhizal partner, a test to check the resistance of ectomycorrhizal roots to desiccation, and enzyme activity profiling on ectomycorrhizal root tips.