RESUMEN
Stewartia ovata (cav.) Weatherby, commonly known as mountain stewartia, is an understory tree native to the southeastern United States (U.S.). This relatively rare species occurs in isolated populations in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. As a species, S. ovata has largely been overlooked, and limited information is available regarding its ecology, which presents obstacles to conservation efforts. Stewartia ovata has vibrant, large white flowers that bloom in summer with a variety of filament colors, suggesting potential horticultural traits prized by ornamental industry. However, S. ovata is relatively slow growing and, due to long seed dormancy, propagation is challenging with limited success rates. This has created a need to assess the present genetic diversity in S. ovata populations to inform potential conservation and restoration of the species. Here, we employ a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach to characterize the spatial distribution and genetic diversity of S. ovata in the southern Appalachia region of the eastern United States. A total of 4475 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified across 147 individuals from 11 collection sites. Our results indicate low genetic diversity (He = 0.216), the presence of population structure (K = 2), limited differentiation (F ST = 0.039), and high gene flow (Nm = 6.16) between our subpopulations. Principal component analysis corroborated the findings of STRUCTURE, confirming the presence of two distinct S. ovata subpopulations. One subpopulation mainly contains genotypes from the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee, while the other consists of genotypes present in the Great Smoky Mountain ranges in Tennessee, North Carolina, and portions of Nantahala, Chattahoochee-Oconee national forests in Georgia, highlighting that elevation likely plays a major role in its distribution. Our results further suggested low inbreeding coefficient (F IS = 0.070), which is expected with an outcrossing tree species. This research further provides necessary insight into extant subpopulations and has generated valuable resources needed for conservation efforts of S. ovata.
RESUMEN
Data and metadata interoperability between data storage systems is a critical component of the FAIR data principles. Programmatic and consistent means of reconciling metadata models between databases promote data exchange and thus increases its access to the scientific community. This process requires (i) metadata mapping between the models and (ii) software to perform the mapping. Here, we describe our efforts to map metadata associated with genome assemblies between the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) data resources and the Chado biological database schema. We present mappings for multiple NCBI data structures and introduce a Tripal software module, Tripal EUtils, to pull metadata from NCBI into a Tripal/Chado database. We discuss potential mapping challenges and solutions and provide suggestions for future development to further increase interoperability between these platforms. Database URL: https://github.com/NAL-i5K/tripal_eutils.
