Competitive ability not kinship affects growth of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions.
In many organisms, individuals behave more altruistically towards relatives than towards unrelated individuals. Here, we conducted a study to determine if the performance of Arabidopsis thaliana is influenced by whether individuals are in competition with kin or non-kin. We selected seven pairs of genetically distinct accessions that originated from local populations throughout Europe. We measured the biomass of one focal plant surrounded by six kin or non-kin neighbours in in vitro growth experiments and counted the number of siliques produced per pot by one focal plant surrounded by four kin or non-kin neighbours. The biomass and number of siliques of a focal plant were not affected by the relatedness of the neighbour. Depending on the accession, a plant performed better or worse in a pure stand than when surrounded by non-kin plants. In addition, whole-genome microarray analyses revealed that there were no genes differentially expressed between kin and non-kin conditions. In conclusion, our study does not provide any evidence for a differential response to kin vs non-kin in A. thaliana. Rather, the outcome of the interaction between kin and non-kin seems to depend on the strength of the competitive abilities of the accessions.
Masclaux
Frédéric
F
Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Hammond
Robert L
RL
Meunier
Joël
J
Gouhier-Darimont
Caroline
C
Keller
Laurent
L
Reymond
Philippe
P
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D018533:Biomass; D004463:Ecology; D005638:Fruit; D017343:Genes, Plant; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D012098:Reproduction; D012641:Selection, Genetic