Quantitative trait loci for key defensive compounds affecting herbivory of eucalypts in Australia

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02417.x

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Wiley InterScience

New Phytologist

Volume 178 Issue 4, Pages 846 - 851

Published Online: 25 Mar 2008

Published on behalf of the New Phytologist Trust

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Quantitative trait loci for key defensive compounds affecting herbivory of eucalypts in Australia

J. S. Freeman, J. M. O'Reilly-Wapstra, R. E. Vaillancourt, N. Wiggins and B. M. Potts

School of Plant Science and CRC for Forestry, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7001

Author for correspondence:
Jules Freeman
Tel:+61 3 6226 1828
Fax:+61 3 6226 2698
Email: jules.freeman@utas.edu.au

KEYWORDS

community genetics • Eucalyptus globulus • extended phenotype • formylated phloroglucinols • herbivory • plant secondary metabolites

New Phytologist (2008) 178: 846–851

ABSTRACT

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Formylated phloroglucinols (FPCs) are key defensive compounds that influence herbivory by mammals and arthropods in eucalypts. However, the genetic architecture underlying variation in their levels remains poorly understood.
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Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis for the concentrations of two major FPCs, sideroxylonal A and macrocarpal G, was conducted using juvenile leaves from 112 clonally duplicated progenies from an outcross F₂ of Eucalyptus globulus.
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Two unlinked QTL were located for macrocarpal, while another unlinked QTL was located for sideroxylonal. The sideroxylonal QTL collocated with one for total sideroxylonal previously reported using adult Eucalyptus nitens foliage, providing independent validation in a different evolutionary lineage and a different ontogenetic stage.
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Given the potential widespread occurrence of these QTL, their ontogenetic stability, and their impact on a range of dependent herbivores, it is possible that they have extended phenotypic effects in the Australian forest landscape.