title: Salinity Is an Agent of Divergent Selection Driving Local Adaptation of Arabidopsis to Coastal Habitats.
abstract: Understanding the molecular mechanism of adaptive evolution in plants provides insights into the selective forces driving adaptation and the genetic basis of adaptive traits with agricultural value. The genomic resources available for Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) make it well suited to the rapid molecular dissection of adaptive processes. Although numerous potentially adaptive loci have been identified in Arabidopsis, the consequences of divergent selection and migration (both important aspects of the process of local adaptation) for Arabidopsis are not well understood. Here, we use a multiyear field-based reciprocal transplant experiment to detect local populations of Arabidopsis composed of multiple small stands of plants (demes) that are locally adapted to the coast and adjacent inland habitats in northeastern Spain. We identify fitness tradeoffs between plants from these different habitats when grown together in inland and coastal common gardens and also, under controlled conditions in soil excavated from coastal and inland sites. Plants from the coastal habitat also outperform those from inland when grown under high salinity, indicating local adaptation to soil salinity. Sodium can be toxic to plants, and we find its concentration to be elevated in soil and plants sampled at the coast. We conclude that the local adaptation that we observe between adjacent coastal and inland populations is caused by ongoing divergent selection driven by the differential salinity between coastal and inland soils.
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Busoms
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teres
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Xin-Yuan
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3668-8260
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bomblies
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: John
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5103-3852
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Danku
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.).
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2114-7963
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.) charlotte.poschenrieder@uab.cat david.salt@abdn.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3818-0874
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poschenrieder
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Bioscience Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.B., J.T., C.P.);Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, United Kingdom (X.-Y.H., J.D., A.D., D.E.S.); andMax Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany (K.B., D.W.) charlotte.poschenrieder@uab.cat david.salt@abdn.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Salt
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000483:Alleles; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D005843:Geography; D016014:Linear Models; D008903:Minerals / Q000032:analysis; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D054712:Salinity; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D012987:Soil; D013030:Spain; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D012987:Soil; D012965:Sodium Chloride