SePPCon 2024: Conservation Genetics
SePPCon 2024: Conservation Genetics
An Overview of the Conservation Genetics Program at the Atlanta Botanical Garden
Lauren Eserman-Campbell*, Amanda Carmichael, Danielle Contreras, Atlanta Botanical Garden
The Center’s Conservation Genetics Team works to inform many areas of conservation, including the genetic structure of in situ populations, genetic representation in ex situ collections, phylogenetics, species delimitation, and more. Many of these plants are threatened with extinction if proper management and safeguarding does not occur. Information on genetic diversity and population structure is critical for understanding whether species will be resilient in the face of future pressures such as habitat destruction or climate change. We work closely with conservation practitioners to address questions about species with the most urgent needs. The Center has a fully equipped Conservation Genetics Laboratory for gathering genome-scale data to address these research areas. The Conservation Genetics Laboratory also houses the Conservation DNA Biorepository, which contains thousands of DNA and leaf tissue samples for over 800 plant species of conservation concern. This talk will present an overview of the Conservation Genetics Research Program at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and how we advance conservation outcomes of imperiled species.
Two high quality Sarracenia reference genome assemblies enable conservation genomics
Ethan Baldwin* (1), Lauren Eserman (2), Jim Leebens-Mack (1)
(1) Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia (2) Atlanta Botanical Garden
Video start time: 7:55
Sarracenia is a genus of carnivorous pitcher plants native to eastern North America. The ~10 species of Sarracenia have declined due to unprecedented habitat loss and poaching, resulting in two taxa being listed as globally imperiled (G2) and most other taxa having locally elevated conservation priorities (e.g. six taxa are S1). Management of the remaining Sarracenia populations has long been troubled by taxonomic uncertainty and widespread interspecific hybridization. Although attempts to resolve these issues have been made, they are limited in power by using a small set of genomic loci (e.g. microsatellites). To address those limitations, we present two high quality, chromosome-level genome assemblies for S. psittacina and S. rosea. These genomic resources, which are now available to the conservation community, will enable these longstanding conservation issues in Sarracenia to be addressed using the full set of genomic loci. As a proof of concept, the genome assemblies are used to develop markers which are used to detect genus-wide interspecific introgression. Implications of this introgression on the long-term management of rare Sarracenia taxa will be discussed.
A resource for identifying fungi that are important for orchid conservation
Melissa K. McCormick* (1, 2), Julianne McGuinness (1), Lawrence Zettler (1, 3), Dennis F. Whigham (1, 2)
(1) North American Orchid Conservation Center, (2) Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, (3) Illinois College, Orchid Recovery Program
Video start time: 16:33
It is increasingly recognized that species depend on symbiotic species that are required for completion of their life cycles. Mycorrhizal fungi are critical for orchid seed germination and for allowing mature orchids to tolerate stressful conditions. As a result, they are essential to orchid conservation. While considerable attention has been paid to identifying mycorrhizal fungi associated with particular orchids in specific locations, the mycorrhizal fungi required by most orchids are still unknown. Identifying and banking these fungi is necessary for effective conservation and restoration that pairs orchids with the mycorrhizal fungi they need to successfully grow and reproduce. The North American Orchid Conservation Center’s (NAOCC) network of collaborators and volunteers have amassed a collection of orchid mycorrhizal associates from the United States and Canada that includes more than 2000 root samples and over 1000 sequences of mycorrhizal fungi, as well as a living collection that includes representatives of fungi from many species. We present a phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ITS sequences from fungi and root remnants and over 500 sequences from GenBank accessions, to determine the mycorrhizal fungi that associate with over half of the North American native orchid species. This provides a resource to determine which fungi are important for conservation of North American orchid species. We are working with NAOCC collaborators to incorporate these mycorrhizal fungi into orchid propagation and conservation. This resource also facilitates new insights into drivers of orchid distribution and geographic patterns of genetic variation.