Functional and evolutionary genomic inferences in Populus through genome and population sequencing of American and European aspen - Leaf digitally normalised dataset

The distribution of North American quaking and Eurasian trembling aspen spans the northern hemisphere. Both species contain striking levels of genetic variation. To study how these differences arise from DNA sequences, we assembled both genomes, identified the gene space and compared the genomes of the two species to the closely related black cottonwood. Gene sequences are highly conserved between cottonwood and aspen but we identified extensive sequence differences between the species in intergenic regions. After re-sequencing a panel of individuals of each species, we assessed genome-wide variation in genetic diversity and identified signatures of adaptive evolution in the two aspen species. The resource we have created is publicly available to the community, representing one of the most comprehensive population genomics datasets available for plant species.