Construction of a Populus tremuloides Michx. BAC library

We have constructed an aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx., line Turesson141) BAC library containing 55,296 clones in total. A random sampling of 86 BAC clones indicated an average insert size of 76 kb with a range of 20 to 160 kb. Twelve percent of the BAC clones in the library have an insert size larger than 100 kb. Based on an estimated genome size for Populus of 500 Mbp, library coverage is about 8 haploid genome equivalents. This library will be screened using AFLP marker identified before co-segregating with gender in a P. tremula x P. tremuloides progeny, where Turesson141 was the male parent.