Corresponding author : David B. Neale

Neale , David B.^1* ; Brown , Garth R.¹ ; Krutovskii , Konstantine V.¹ ; Sewell , Mitchell M.¹ ;

¹Institute of Forest Genetics, Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 USA

* indicates the presenting author(s)

Title : Comparative QTL Mapping in Conifers

Abstract : Genetic maps have been constructed for a number of conifer species for the purposes of mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL). With just a few exceptions, such QTL mapping experiments lack verification, making it difficult to assess reliability of results. One approach to verify QTLs is through comparative mapping by identifying QTLs mapping to similar locations across pedigrees and species. We have established an international collaboration to construct comparative maps in conifers called the Conifer Comparative Genomics Project (CCGP) (http://dendrome.ucdavis.edu/Synteny). The collaboration is mapping orthologous expressed sequence tagged polymorphism (ESTP) markers derived from loblolly pine cDNAs to a number of pine and other conifer genetic maps. The constituent maps are often populated with QTLs for a number of traits important in forestry; e.g. wood property, growth and adaptive traits. It is now possible to conduct comparative QTL mapping analyses through database queries. Such analyses begin to reveal orthologous QTLs and become logical targets for candidate gene mapping and ultimately cloning.