On July 6th 2017, Atef Sahli, Ph.D. candidate in forest sciences at Univ. Laval and member of the Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, successfully presented his thesis entitled “Copy number variations in white spruce gene space”. Atef showed the importance of an largely uncharacterized type of large-size genetic polymorphism across the white spruce genome, namely orthologous copy number variations of genes, beyond the strict diploidy of spruces. These variations can influence genes functionality, as well as different phenotypic traits in animal and annual plant species. Using the genotyping results of thousands of samples for thousands of genes, Atef estimated the abundance of these polymorphisms in the white spruce gene space. In particular, he demonstrated that mutation rates were high, with frequent transmission distortions affecting a large number of genes. The evaluation committee consisted of Jean Bousquet, research director (Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, Univ. Laval), John Mackay, research co-director (Dept. of Plant Sciences, Univ. of Oxford), Simon Joly, external reviewer (Institut de recherche en biologie végétale and Dept. of Biological Sciences at the Univ. of Montreal), François Belzile, internal reviewer (Faculty of Agriculture and Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, Univ. Laval), and Ilga Porth, internal reviewer (Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, Univ. Laval). The defense was chaired by Nancy Gélinas, vice-dean of studies at the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics of Univ. Laval. Congratulations Atef!

Spruce-Up (Advanced spruce genomics for productive and resilient forests) is a large-scale national project with goal to use genomics to accelerate the development and deployment of spruce stocks that are more resistant to insects and drought, use nutrients more efficiently and provide improved wood quality and productivity. Spruces are by far the most planted trees in Canada, with hundreds of million of seedlings per year. The natural genetic diversity of spruces is high, which allows for the selection of improved stocks using conventional and now genomic methods. The rapid deployment of such improved stocks should more than double the net economic output value from plantations by increasing the value of new trees and reducing losses due to environmental disturbances in a context of climate change. The project is funded by a large number of organizations including Genome Canada, Genome Québec, Genome BC and Genome Alberta. It gathers research scientists from Université Laval, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, University of Toronto, University of Oxford in England and Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany, as well as research scientists and tree breeders from Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Québec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Forest Products Innovations and British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

The 29^th of May 2017, Mebarek Lamara, Ph.D. candidate in forest sciences at Univ. Laval and member of the Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, successfully presented his thesis entitled “Genetic architecture of traits related to wood, growth and spruce budworm resistance in white spruce”. Mebarek’s work has shown that a large number of genes were genetically associated to growth and wood traits, but that these genes were connected to each other through expression networks shown for the first time in conifers. Less genes were found genetically associated to spruce budworm resistance traits such as picein or piceol, but they collectively explained a large part of the observed trait variation. These results should translate into applications such as the monitoring of natural genetic diversity of adaptive value. The evaluation committee consisted of Jean Bousquet, research director (Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, Univ. Laval), John Mackay, research co-director (Dept. of Plant Sciences, Univ. of Oxford), Christophe Plomion, external reviewer (Research Director at INRA of Bordeaux), Martin Perron, external reviewer (Direction de la recherche, Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks), and Jean Beaulieu, internal reviewer (Chair in Forest Genomics, Univ. Laval). The defense was chaired by Alexis Achim, Director of the Graduate Program in Forest Sciences. Congratulations Mebarek!

The 1st of february 2017, Juliana Stival Sena, Ph.D. candidate in forest sciences at Université Laval and member of the Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, successfully presented her thesis entitled “Structural and functional evolution of genes in conifers”. Juliana’s work has shown that the evolution of gene structure is dynamic in conifers, and that a large number of gene duplications occurred in the dehydrine family over the tens of million years since the origin of the Pinaceae. In addition, she demonstrated that these genes are involved in adaptation to drought in many different ways. These results provide new avenues for future research that aims to decipher the genetic basis of development and adaptation to climatic variations in conifers, and to pinpoint the geographic distribution of genetic diversity in these genes. The evaluation committee consisted of Jean Bousquet, research director (Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, Université Laval), John Mackay, research co-director (Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford), Marie Teresa Cervera, external reviewer (Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria of Spain), Armand Séguin, external reviewer (Laurentian Forestry Center, Natural Resources Canada), and François Belzile, internal reviewer (Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Université Laval). The defense was chaired by Nancy Gélinas, vice-dean of studies at the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics. Congratulations Juliana!

Assistant Professor at the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences at Université Laval, Ilga Porth joined the Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics in 2015. Formerly biochemist, Ilga obtained a Ph.D. in forest genetics from the University of Vienna (Austria) and completed a postdoctoral fellow in forest genomics at the University of British Columbia. Her scientific expertise covers various fields including functional and population genomics in relation to wood physiology and tree resilience to abiotic and abiotic stresses. Welcome Ilga!

FastTRAC (Fast Tests for Rating and Amelioration of Conifers) is a large-scale partnership project centered on the implementation of genomic selection tests at the operational scale of spruce breeding programs. Launched in 2015, the project is funded by Genome Canada (GAPP Program) and Genome Quebec, and it is gathering scientists, tree breeders, foresters and economists from seven Canadian organizations: The Canada Research Chair in Forest and Environmental Genomics of Laval University, Forest Products Innovations (FPInnovations), the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC-CCFB), the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (QMFWP), J.D. Irving Ltd (JDI), the New Brunswick Tree Improvement Council (NBTIC) and Natural Resources Canada.

Benjamin Cinget, studying under the supervision of professors Jean Bousquet and Jean Beaulieu, from the Canada Research Chair in Forest Genomics, successfully defended his thesis entitled ‘Pan-Canadian phylogeographic study of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and its relationships with subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) in western Canada’. The photo shows him with thesis committee members, from left to right: professor André Desrochers (president of the jury), Jean Beaulieu, Benjamin Cinget, Jean Bousquet , professor Damase Khasa (Centre for Forest Research, Laval University) and by videoconference in the background, professor Selvadurai Dayanandan (Department of Biology, Concordia University) and professor Juan Pablo Jaramillo-Correa (Institute of Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico). Congratulations Benjamin!

The Chair has recently been renewed for a third tenure of 7 years, from 2015 to 2022, a first among senior Canada research chairs.

Thanks to all its members and collaborators!

Jean Beaulieu, Scientist Emeritus and Invited Professor
After a fruitful scientific career at Natural Resources Canada, Jean Beaulieu has received in 2014 the status of Scientist Emeritus of NRCan. He has also been nominated as Invited Professor at the Département des Sciences du bois et de la forêt of Université Laval. Congratulations, Jean!

Professor Jean Bousquet is one of the 2014 recipient of the Gloire de l’Escolle from the Alumni Association of Université Laval.

More informations here and here (French only).