title: Effects of genetic perturbation on seasonal life history plasticity.
abstract: Like many species, the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana exhibits multiple different life histories in natural environments. We grew mutants impaired in different signaling pathways in field experiments across the species' native European range in order to dissect the mechanisms underlying this variation. Unexpectedly, mutational loss at loci implicated in the cold requirement for flowering had little effect on life history except in late-summer cohorts. A genetically informed photothermal model of progression toward flowering explained most of the observed variation and predicted an abrupt transition from autumn flowering to spring flowering in late-summer germinants. Environmental signals control the timing of this transition, creating a critical window of acute sensitivity to genetic and climatic change that may be common for seasonally regulated life history traits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Amity M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wilczek
authors.forename: Judith L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roe
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Knapp
authors.forename: Martha D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lopez-Gallego
authors.forename: Laura J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Christopher D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.forename: Sheina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sim
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Jillian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: J Franklin
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Brook T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Moyers
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petipas
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giakountis
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Charbit
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coupland
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D004777:Environment; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development; D009154:Mutation; D017440:Photoperiod; D012621:Seasons; D015398:Signal Transduction