title: Plasticity regulators modulate specific root traits in discrete nitrogen environments.
abstract: Plant development is remarkably plastic but how precisely can the plant customize its form to specific environments? When the plant adjusts its development to different environments, related traits can change in a coordinated fashion, such that two traits co-vary across many genotypes. Alternatively, traits can vary independently, such that a change in one trait has little predictive value for the change in a second trait. To characterize such "tunability" in developmental plasticity, we carried out a detailed phenotypic characterization of complex root traits among 96 accessions of the model Arabidopsis thaliana in two nitrogen environments. The results revealed a surprising level of independence in the control of traits to environment - a highly tunable form of plasticity. We mapped genetic architecture of plasticity using genome-wide association studies and further used gene expression analysis to narrow down gene candidates in mapped regions. Mutants in genes implicated by association and expression analysis showed precise defects in the predicted traits in the predicted environment, corroborating the independent control of plasticity traits. The overall results suggest that there is a pool of genetic variability in plants that controls traits in specific environments, with opportunity to tune crop plants to a given environment.
authors.affiliation: Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Department of Biology, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America ; School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom ; Warwick Systems Biology Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Miriam L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gifford
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Banta
authors.forename: Manpreet S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Katari
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hulsmans
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ristova
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tranchina
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Purugganan
authors.forename: Gloria M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Coruzzi
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D009154:Mutation; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D063245:Plant Development / Q000235:genetics*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C495666:auxin response factor 8, Arabidopsis; D009584:Nitrogen
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