Among efforts to stave off the rapid decline of whitebark pine trees, researchers have recently sequenced the genome of this keystone species and are publishing their findings.
Conifer genomes can be challenging to sequence as they are 3-10 times larger than the human genome. Project lead David Neale, professor emeritus, Plant Sciences Dept., University of California, Davis, said the information will enable researchers to “expedite the supply of resistant seedlings.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed whitebark pine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act after more than 325 million of the trees died due to a variety of factors, including white pine blister rust, an invasive fungus.
The tree is a keystone species across 80.6 million acres in the western U.S. and Canada, where it grows up to treeline.
A whitebark pine snag stands above Crate Lake in Oregon (photo by J.L. Barroso).
