Environmental and genetic effects on flowering differences between northern and southern populations of Arabidopsis lyrata (Brassicaceae)

Abstract

Arabidopsis lyrata (Brassicaceae) is a close outcrossing relative of A. thaliana. We examine flowering time variation of northern and southern A. lyrata populations in controlled environmental conditions, in a common garden experiment with A. thaliana, and in the field. Southern populations of A. lyrata flowered earlier than northern ones in all environmental conditions. Individuals from southern populations were more likely to flower in short days (14 h light) than northern ones, and all populations had a higher probability of flowering and flowered more rapidly in long days (20 h). The interaction of population and day length significantly affected flowering probability, and flowering time in one of two comparisons. The common garden experiment demonstrated differences between populations in the response to seed cold treatment, but growth chamber experiments showed no vernalization effect after 4 wk of rosette cold treatment. In a field population in Norway, a high proportion of the plants flowered in each year of the study. The plants progressed to flowering more rapidly in the field and common garden than in the growth chamber. The genetic basis of these flowering time differences here can be further studied using A. thaliana genetic tools.

Variation in tolerance to drought among Scandinavian populations of Arabidopsis lyrata

“…This suggests that environmental conditions that have favoured high tolerance to drought have also favoured low flowering propensity. Age at first flowering has been shown to vary among populations of A. lyrata also in previous studies (Riihimäki and Savolainen 2004;Leinonen et al 2009), and it would be interesting to test with selection experiments the hypothesis that early allocation to reproduction increases susceptibility to drought.…”

The interactive effects of irradiance and photoperiod on Chara vulgaris L.: concerted responses in morphology, physiology, and reproduction

“…Some researchers have reported changes in pigment pattern and quantity for some charophyte species in low light conditions (Andrews et al, 1984) as well as in excessive light conditions (Küster et al, 2004(Küster et al, , 2005. In addition, the responses to changes in photoperiod of plant growth traits and physiological factors such as RGR, germination, and changes in secondary compounds have been well documented (e.g., Degli Agosti et al 1990;Densmore, 1997;Junttila et al 1997;Riihimaki & Savolainen, 2004), although little attention has been given to the effect of photoperiod on charophytes (Karling, 1924;Van den Berg et al, 1998).…”

Complex Genetic Effects on Early Vegetative Development Shape Resource Allocation Differences BetweenArabidopsis lyrataPopulations

“…A. lyrata has a wide but highly fragmented distribution across Europe, Asia, and North America, and occurs in environments that range from subarctic and alpine to warm temperate in climate. A. lyrata also exhibits strong patterns of phenotypic variation between populations in flowering time (Riihimäki and Savolainen 2004;Riihimäki et al 2005) and fitness components (Kuittinen et al 2008;Leinonen et al 2009Leinonen et al , 2011. The complete genome sequence of A. lyrata has now been published (Hu et al 2011) and genetic and chromosomal synteny maps have been developed (Kuittinen et al 2004;Schranz et al 2006), greatly facilitating application of the extensive genomic resources and functional information available in A. thaliana to A. lyrata.…”