Effects of genetic perturbation on seasonal life history plasticity.
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.
Wilczek
Amity M
AM
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Roe
Judith L
JL
Knapp
Mary C
MC
Cooper
Martha D
MD
Lopez-Gallego
Cristina
C
Martin
Laura J
LJ
Muir
Christopher D
CD
Sim
Sheina
S
Walker
Alexis
A
Anderson
Jillian
J
Egan
J Franklin
JF
Moyers
Brook T
BT
Petipas
Renee
R
Giakountis
Antonis
A
Charbit
Erika
E
Coupland
George
G
Welch
Stephen M
SM
Schmitt
Johanna
J
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