Genetic analysis of wood properties in Scots pine
Abrahamsson Sa, Hallingbäck Hb, Fries Aa and García-Gil MRa
a
b
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, SLU, Umeå
Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, SLU, Uppsala
Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) has the widest distribution of all pine species that extends
from the south of Spain (38o N) to the north of Scandinavia (68o N), and from western
Scotland (6o W) to eastern Siberia (135o E). More than half of Sweden is covered by
forest and Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) stands account for 39%. Scots pine is one of the
most relevant species since it is the most important source of wood. The Swedish forest
industry accounts for 13% of the total export activities in Sweden (Ekberg, 2003). In that
context, improvement of the selection for traits such as frost hardiness, tree height and
stem diameter is naturally considered important. However, a certain strength for Swedish
forestry is production of high quality wood. Thus selection improvement of fibre and
wood quality properties in this species could also considerably increase gain.
QTL analysis for wood properties will be performed in a Scots pine full sib cross
made in 1988 at the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden in Sävar (Skogforsk). This
cross was chosen for three important reasons (1) the progeny size is exceptionally large
(1000 individuals) compared with the small progeny sizes used in all previouslypublished QTL analysis in pine; (2) QTL analysis was already performed in an small set
of this progeny (100 individuals) across four years, which will allow for further QTL
stability evaluation (Lerceteau et al., 2001; Yin et al., 2003) and (3) the cross is currently
used in a conventional breeding program, this means that the effectiveness of our method
can be tested directly on a real breeding program.
References
Ekberg, K., ed. (2003). Statistical yearbook of forestry 2003. Jönköping: Swedish Forest
Agency (Former name: National board of forestry).
Lerceteau, E., Szmidt, A. E., and Andersson, B. (2001). Detection of quantitative loci
trait loci in Pinus sylvestris L. across years. Euphytica 121, 117-122.
Yin, T.-M., Wang, X.-R., Andersson, B., and Lerceteau-Köhler, E. (2003). Nearly
complete genetic maps of Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) constructed by AFLP marker
analysis in a full-sib family. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 106, 1075-1083.