2020

2024

Correct interpretation of environmental cues is a matter of life and death for plants, because as sessile organisms they cannot escape unfavorable conditions. For example, pines and birches have the ability to measure the day-length and to use it for determining the end of the growing season and to start making preparations for winter. Gene expression and its control have an important role in observing these signals and converting them to actual functional and physiological changes. In this project, we study how genomic regions controlling gene expression affect physiological responses driven by the environment and how these reactions differ among two tree species having very different genome sizes and large evolutionary distance from each other. We will also inspect how populations from different European locations differ in their genomic response to environmental change. Research Consortium Tanja Pyhäjärvi (UHEL), Katri Kärkkäinen (Luke) Mikko Sillanpää (UOulu) Jarkko Salojärvi (Nanyang Technological University). Funding from Academy of Finland