Are there morphological and life‐history traits under climate‐dependent differential selection in S TunesianDiplotaxis harra(Forssk.) Boiss. (Brassicaceae) populations?

Abstract

Adaptation of morphological, physiological, or life‐history traits of a plant species to heterogeneous habitats through the process of natural selection is a paramount process in evolutionary biology. We have used a population genomic approach to disentangle selection‐based and demography‐based variation in morphological and life‐history traits in the crucifer Diplotaxis harra (Forssk.) Boiss. (Brassicaceae) encountered in populations along aridity gradients in S Tunisia. We have genotyped 182 individuals from 12 populations of the species ranging from coastal to semidesert habitats using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting and assessed a range of morphological and life‐history traits from their progeny cultivated under common‐garden conditions. Application of three different statistical approaches for searching AFLP loci under selection allowed us to characterize candidate loci, for which their association with the traits assessed was tested for statistical significance and correlation with climate data. As a key result of this study, we find that only the shape of cauline leaves seems to be under differential selection along the aridity gradient in S Tunisian populations of Diplotaxis harra, while for all other traits studied neutral biogeographical and/or random factors could not be excluded as explanation for the variation observed. The counter‐intuitive finding that plants from populations with more arid habitats produce broader leaves under optimal conditions of cultivation than those from more mesic habitats is interpreted as being ascribable to selection for a higher plasticity in this trait under more unpredictable semidesert conditions compared to the more predictable ones in coastal habitats.

Population structure and adaptive variation of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don along eastern Adriatic temperature and precipitation gradient

“…Sarg. Authors Oberprieler et al 34 reported that using three methods (Mcheza, BayeScan, and Samβada) 732 AFLP loci screened revealed only 1.6% (full dataset) and 0.4% (reduced data set) of all loci were found to be under selection in Diplotaxis harra (Forssk.) Boiss.…”

The scales and signatures of climate adaptation by theArabidopsistranscriptome

“…In addition, regional adaptive signatures can obfuscate adaptive patterns on a global scale. Several creative solutions to these challenges have been developed, including restricting focus to population samples with limited population structure (11,12), distilling multidimensional relationships among traits or climatic parameter to primary axes of variation (13,14), and sampling across replicate environmental gradients to assess evolutionary convergence (8,15).…”

A Major Diplotaxis harra-Derived Bioflavonoid Glycoside as a Protective Agent against Chemically Induced Neurotoxicity and Parkinson’s Models; In Silico Target Prediction; and Biphasic HPTLC-Based Quantification

“…In this context, plants of genus Diplotaxis provided supporting evidence for this traditional use as they exhibited anti-inflammatory [ 11 , 12 , 13 ] and antioxidant/antiradical [ 13 , 14 , 15 ] activities since inflammation and oxidative stress are linked to inflammatory movement disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Genus Diplotaxis includes edible and medicinal plants [ 12 , 19 , 20 ] of about 30 species, mainly distributed in Central Europe, the Mediterranean region [ 21 ], and Southwest Asia [ 22 ], including Saudi Arabia [ 23 ]. Phytochemical investigations on the herbs of genus Diplotaxis , including Diplotaxis harra , have been disclosed the presence of flavonoids [ 11 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], isothiocyanate-releasing glucosinolates [ 28 , 29 ], phenolic acids [ 19 ], and phytosterols [ 15 ].…”