Abstract
Exploratory hybridization of red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) and white alder (Alnus rhombifolia Nutt.) was conducted to initiate a long-term investigation into the inter-specific taxon’s potential for biomass production. Red alder selections originated in stands west of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, while white alder came from provenances west and east of the Cascades. White alder’s heretofore unknown chromosome number was determined equal to red alder (2n = 2x = 28) and included a pair of satellite chromosomes. An experimental crossing technique was proven, establishing the species’ reproductive affinity for the first time. Hybridization was substantially more productive when red alder served as the female parent as opposed to white alder. Hybridity was confirmed using four species-specific SSR markers developed from transcriptome resources for identifying sib relationships in domesticated populations. To begin a description of the inter-specific taxon, hybrids and their open-pollinated siblings were assessed at ages four through six for morphological and phenological traits and carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios in a field planting in western Washington, USA. Principal component analysis of quantitative leaf and internode morphologies showed that red alder and hybrid alder are relatively comparable and both are distinct from white alder. Qualitative differences in leaf morphology are more diagnostic with inter-specific hybrids often intermediate to red and white alder. Principal coordinate analysis of molecular data cleanly separated the three taxa. Plans for continued investigation of the taxon as a biomass crop species are discussed including a potential role for inter-specific hybrids in adapting red alder to the effects of climate change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.Notes
Vegetative propagation of white alder was not as successful as that of red alder, most likely because the white alder ortets were significantly older (23 to 53 years) than the red alder ortets (9 to 30 years) (Radwan et al. 1989).
References
Ager AA, Heilman PE, Stettler RF (1993) Genetic variation in red alder (Alnus rubra) in relation to native climate and geography. Can J For Res 23:1930–1939
Banaev EV, Bazant V (2007) Study of natural hybridization between Alnus incana (L.) Moench. and Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. J Forest Sci 53:66–73
Chang S, Puryear J, Cairney J (1993) A simple and efficient method for isolating RNA from pine trees. Plant Mol Biol Rep 11:113–116
Cortini F, Comeau PG, Wang T, Hibbs DE, Bluhm A (2012) Climate effects on red alder growth in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Forest Ecol Manag 277:98–106
Dang QL, Xie CY, Ying C, Guy RD (1994) Genetic variation of ecophysiological traits in red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.). Can J For Res 24:2150–2156
Dinca L, Peticila A (2019) How many alder species (Alnus sp.) exist? A statistic based on herbarium vouchers. Scientific Papers Series B Horticulture Vol. LXIII, No. 1, Online ISSN 2286-1580
Fryer JL (2014) Alnus rhombifolia. In: fire effects information system. Produced by U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. https://www.fs.fed.us /database/feis/plants/tree/alnrho/all.html.
Furlow JJ (1979) The systematics of the American species of Alnus (Betulaceae) – part 1. Rhodora 81:1–121
Gower JC (1966) Some distance properties of latent root and vector methods used in multivariate analysis. Biometrika 53:325–338
Hall RB, Burgess D (1990) Evaluation of Alnus species and hybrids. Biomass 22:21–34
Harrington CA, Brodie LC, DeBell DS, Schopmeyer CS (2008) Alnus P. Mill. alder. In: Bonner FT, Karrfalt RP (eds) The woody plant seed manual, USDA Forest Service agricultural handbook, vol 727, pp 232–242
Herman B (2009) Alder vegetative propagation. Western Forester 54:15
Jewell DC, Islam-Faridi N (1994) A technique for somatic chromosome preparation and C-banding of maize. In: Freeling M, Walbot V (eds) The maize handbook. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 484–493
Johnson FD (1968a) Disjunct populations of red alder in Idaho. In: Trappe JM, Franklin JF, Tarrant RF, Hansen GM (eds) Biology of Alder. Proceedings of the Northwest Scientific Association Fortieth Annual Meeting, Pullman Washington. U. S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experimental Station, Portland, Oregon, pp 1-8
Johnson FD (1968b) Taxonomy and distribution of northwestern alders. In: Trappe JM, Franklin JF, Tarrant RF, Hansen GM (eds) Biology of Alder. Proceedings of the Northwest Scientific Association Fortieth Annual Meeting, Pullman Washington. U. S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experimental Station, Portland, Oregon, pp 9-22
Jun L, Bao-Qing R, Peigao L, Zhenglong R (2010) Karyotype analysis of Alnus Mill. (Betulaceae) species originating from northeastern Asia. Silvae Genet 59:219–223
McCain C, Christy JA (2005) Field guide to riparian plant communities in northwestern Oregon. USDA Forest Service Technical Paper R6-NR-ECOL-TP-01-05, 357 p
Munsell Plant Tissue Color Book (2012) Reproduced with permission from X-Rite Pantone Inc. Grand Rapids, MI, 23 pp
O’Neill G, Wang T, Ukrainetz N, Charleson L, McAuley L, Yanchuck A, Zedel S (2017) A proposed climate-based seed transfer system for British Columbia. Prov. B.C., Victoria, B.C. Tech. Rep. 099. www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Tr/Tr099.htm
Peakall R, Smouse PE (2012) GenAlEx 6.5: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research—an update. Bioinformatics 28:2537–2539
Porter RB, Lacourse T, Hawkins BJ, Yanchuck A (2013) Adaptive variation in growth, phenology, cold tolerance and nitrogen fixation of red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) Forest Ecol Manag 291:357-366
Radwan MA, Max TA, Johnson DW (1989) Softwood cuttings for propagation of red alder. New Forest 3:21–30
Riahi M, Zarre S, Maassoumi AA, Attar F, Kazempour OS (2010) An inexpensive and rapid method for extracting papilionoid genomic DNA from herbarium specimens. Genet Mol Res 9:1334–1342
Smith, N J (1978) Red alder as a potential source of energy. In: Briggs DG, DeBell DS, Atkinson WA (compilers) Utilization and Management of Alder. U. S. Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-70, pp. 139–155
Stettler RF (1978) Biological aspects of red alder pertinent to potential breeding programs. In: Briggs DG, DeBell DS, Atkinson WA (compilers) Utilization and Management of Alder. U. S. Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-70, pp. 209–222
Terzopoulos PJ, Bebeli PJ (2008) Genetic diversity analysis of Mediterranean faba bean (Vicia faba L.) with ISSR markers. Field Crop Res 108:39–44
Untergasser A, Cutcutache I, Koressaar T, Ye J, Faircloth BC, Remm M, Rozen SG (2012) Primer3—new capabilities and interfaces. Nucleic Acids Res 40:115
Vitt P, Havens K, Kramer AT, Sollenberger D, Yates E (2010) Assisted migration of plants: changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes. Biol Conserv 143:18–27
Xie CY, El-Kassaby YA, Ying CC (2002) Genetics of red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) populations in British Columbia and its implications for gene resources management. New Forest 24:97–112
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge with appreciation the reviews of Glenn Ahrens, Brad Withrow-Robinson, and Nick Wheeler of an earlier draft of the manuscript. EST sequencing was conducted at the Penn State Genomics Core Facility, University Park, PA. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance and consultation of Dr. Richard B. Hall (Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, deceased, September 21, 2016) in the design of the hybridization experiments. We are thankful to Dr. Terje Raudsepp, Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, for access to microscope.
Funding
The work reported here was conducted under the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grant Number 2011-68005-30407 and a USDA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Grant (2011-33610-30781). Additional financial support was provided by the Washington Hardwoods Commission, The Cascade Hardwood Group, Northwest Hardwoods, Hancock Forest Management, Molecular Tree Breeding Services, LLC, and Ealasid. Additional support to JEC was provided through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Federal Appropriations under Project PEN04532 and Accession number 1000326.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.
Brian J. Stanton (BJS) responsibility for project management and oversight, design of hybridization and field experiments, progeny data analysis. and paper composition.
Kathy Haiby (KH) conducted the controlled hybridization.
Rich Shuren (RS) made field selection of parental breeding stock and conducted the progeny evaluation.
Carlos Gantz (CG) designed nursery and orchard field plots.
M. Islam-Faridi (M I-F) conducted chromosome cytology.
Lianna J. Johnson (LJJ) conducted the DNA extractions and SSR marker analyses, contributed to data analysis, and wrote the first draft of the genetic marker parts of the paper.
T. Casey Weathers (TCW) led and conducted the molecular data analysis for identification of hybrids.
Di Wu (DW) participated in the development and testing of SSR markers and training of students.
Teodora Best (TB) was the lead researcher for the RNA sequencing and transcriptome analysis and supervision of students.
Alex Stanish (AS) contributed to RNA sequence data production and analyses and SSR testing.
Margaret Staton (MS) was responsible for the archiving of RNA sequence data at the Hardwood Genomics database and for bioinformatic analyses of the transcriptome data and SSR loci identification.
John E. Carlson (JEC) contributed to the conception and design and provided leadership to the molecular biology components of the study; he contributed to evaluation of data and results and paper preparation.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Communicated by G. G. Vendramin
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Data archiving statement
The information and specifications for the 5696 SSR markers identified from the alder transcriptome and for the 96 SSR markers selected for screening in this study are available as excel sheets via links at the website https://hardwoodgenomics.org/Analysis/3959607. The EST (cDNA) sequences and assembled transcriptome contigs for A. rubra and A. rhombifolia are available for download and query at the Hardwood Genomics websites https://www.hardwoodgenomics.org/Transcriptome-assembly/1963030?tripal_pane=group_description_download and https://www.hardwoodgenomics.org/Transcriptome-assembly/1962986?tripal_pane=group_description_download, respectively. NCBI BioProjects PRJNA320831 and PRJNA 320832 were created for the transcriptome data for red and white alder, respectively. Alnus rubra cDNA sequence data are archived in the NCBI SRA Experiments database under Accessions SRX1748227 (507 M bases) and SRX1748228 (276.5 M bases). Alnus rhombifolia cDNA sequence data are archived in the NCBI SRA Experiments database under Accessions SRX1748225 (343.3 M bases) and SRX1748226 (195.8 M bases). The new findings on chromosomes numbers will be incorporated in CCDB (Chromosome Counts Database, http://ccdb.tau.ac.il) and number of rDNA gene loci in rDNA database (http://plantrdnadatabase.com).
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(PDF 219 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stanton, B.J., Best, T., Islam-Faridi, N. et al. Inter-specific hybridization of Alnus rubra and Alnus rhombifolia: preliminary report of a new taxon and DNA marker resources for bioenergy feedstock production. Tree Genetics & Genomes 16, 70 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01457-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01457-9