Short-read sequencing of wild Populus trichocarpa, P. balsamifera, and their hybrids

We are using natural hybrids of two wide-ranging sister species, Populus trichocarpa and P. balsamifera, as a model to characterize, predict, and test how interspecific hybridization translates into variation in complex adaptive traits of economic and ecological significance. We sampled the parental taxa and hybrids across six east-west transects arrayed across 15 degrees of latitude, and sequenced the resulting 576 samples to a target depth of 20X with short reads. Our analyses of these data are expected to enhance our understanding of the relationship between introgression and fitness across environments.