Genesis of the karelian birch. an ecogenetic hypothesis

Abstract

Relying on the analysis of data from the literature and own findings the authors develop and specify the previously postulated ecological-genetic hypothesis of the curly birch origins, which is based on the concept of interactions between specific natural-climatic factors and conditions in the north-western continental Europe during so-called Little Ice Age (LIA), the high genetic polymorphism, and the adaptive nature of many anatomical-morphological traits and physiological-biochemical characteristics of the representatives of the genus Betula L. growing in the area. The various facts and observations in favour of the ecological-genetic hypothesis of the origins of curly birch are reported.

Dissection of figured wood trait in curly birch (Betula pendula var. carelica) using high-throughput genotyping

“…In this study we attempted to unravel the enigma of genetic factors underlying the phenomenon of curly wood in Karelian birch, which has been debated for over a century 32 . Although in 1922 it was already shown that the patterned texture of the wood is quite stably transmitted to progenies during seed propagation 33 , there were many adherents of the ‘infectious’ or ‘pathological’ hypotheses, which considered curly wood to be the result of exposure to biotic or abiotic stressors 34–36 .…”

“…In this study we attempted to unravel the enigma of genetic factors underlying the phenomenon of curly wood in Karelian birch, which has been debated for over a century 32 .…”

Analysis of structural and functional organization of the curly birch chloroplast genome based on the next-generation sequencing data

“…Одним из вопросов, связанных с интенсификацией воспроизводства высокодекоративных по текстуре древесины форм карельской березы, является установление механизмов формирования указанных морфолого-анатомических особенностей. Основываясь на литературных материалах можно выделить ряд основных гипотез происхождения карельской березы, учитывающих экологическую, филогенетическую, биохимическую, физиологическую, фитопатологическую и наследственную специфику данной породы, однако ни одна из предложенных концепций досконально не объясняет возникновение и воспроизведение структурно-функциональных аномалий, а также не находит полного экспериментального подтверждения, что, по всей видимости, указывает на многофакторный характер формирования признака узорчатости древесины [1].…”