A Single Nucleotide Deletion in Gibberellin20-oxidase1 Causes Alpine Dwarfism in Arabidopsis.
Alpine dwarfism is widely observed in alpine plant populations and often considered a high-altitude adaptation, yet its molecular basis and ecological relevance remain unclear. In this study, we used map-based cloning and field transplant experiments to investigate dwarfism in natural Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions collected from the Swiss Alps. A loss-of-function mutation due to a single nucleotide deletion in gibberellin20-oxidase1 (GA5) was identified as the cause of dwarfism in an alpine accession. The mutated allele, ga5-184, was found in two natural Arabidopsis populations collected from one geographic region at high altitude, but was different from all other reported ga5 null alleles, suggesting that this allele has evolved locally. In field transplant experiments, the dwarf accession with ga5-184 exhibited a fitness pattern consistent with adaptation to high altitude. Across a wider array of accessions from the Swiss Alps, plant height decreased with altitude of origin, but fitness patterns in the transplant experiments were variable and general altitudinal adaptation was not evident. In general, our study provides new insights into molecular basis and possible ecological roles of alpine dwarfism, and demonstrates the importance of the GA-signaling pathway for the generation of ecologically relevant variation in higher plants.
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.) yhluo@jsnu.edu.cn.
Yonghai
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3689-1477
Y
Luo
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Xinwei
X
Dong
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Tianying
T
Yu
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Xuan
X
Shi
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Zongyun
Z
Li
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Weicai
W
Yang
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Alex
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8253-5137
A
Widmer
Plant Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences (Y.L., X.S., Z.L.) and Key Laboratory of Biotechnology for Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province (Y.L., Z.L.), Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province 221116, China;Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland (Y.L., A.W.);College of Life Science, Yantai University, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong 264005, China (X.D.);State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China (T.Y., W.Y.); andDepartment of Ecology and Genetics, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (S.K.).
Sophie
S
Karrenberg
D000531:Altitude; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017753:Ecosystem; D060146:Ecotype; D017343:Genes, Plant; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000235:genetics*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012639:Seeds / Q000033:anatomy & histology
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D009711:Nucleotides; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; C000606235:gibberellin 20 oxidase 1, Arabidopsis; C089210:gibberellin, 2-oxoglutarate-oxygen oxidoreductase (20-hydroxylating, oxidizing)