About this species
Abies equi-trojani (Trojan fir) is a rare, narrowly endemic evergreen conifer restricted to northwestern Turkey (1), morphologically similar to Abies nordmanniana and sometimes treated as a subspecies thereof, characterized by dense, upward-curving needles (2) and adapted to the mixed montane forests of its limited natural range.
About this genome
The genome assemblies of Abies firma, Abies fraseri, Abies procera, and Abies equi-trojani represent among the first chromosome-scale pangenomic resources within the genus Abies, filling a critical gap in conifer genomics and providing breeders, conservationists, and the Christmas tree industry with molecular markers needed for informed cultivar selection, rootstock improvement, and resistance breeding.
Project information
| Common name: | Trojan fir |
| Conservation status: | Endangered (IUCN Red List) |
| Project leads: | Justin Whitehill (NCSU), Ross Whetten (NCSU), Jill Wegrzyn (UConn) |
| Project members: | Vidya Vuruputoor (UConn), Mary Rutter (UConn) |
| In progress: | Sequencing, Assembly, Analysis |
| Funding: | Specialty Crop Research Initiative project award no. 2024-51181-432333, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. |
| References: | (1) Hrivnák M, Paule L, Krajmerová D, et al. Genetic variation in Tertiary relics: The case of eastern-Mediterranean Abies (Pinaceae). Ecol Evol. 2017;7:10018–10030. |
| (2) A. nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani , The Gymnosperm Database. Accessed from conifers.org |