Genome Size Unaffected by Variation in Morphological Traits, Temperature, and Precipitation in Turnip

Abstract

Genome size (GS) was proposed as proxy for gross phenotypic and environmental changes in plants. GS organismal complexity is an enigma in evolutionary biology. While studies pertaining to intraspecific GS variation are abundant, literatures reporting the adaptive significance of GS are largelymissing. During food shortage, Brassica rapa var. rapa (turnip) is used as food and fodder for sustaining the livelihood of residents in the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP), which is also known as “the roof of the world”. Thus, climatic extremities make this region a natural environment to test adaptive significance of GS variation in turnip landraces. Therefore, from the QTP and its adjacent regions (the Hengduanshan and the Himalayas), we investigated adaptive evolution of GS in turnip landraces. Tuber diameter of turnip landraces was found to be significantly correlated with most of the environmental factors. GS was also shown not to be associated with morphological traits, temperature, and precipitation. Moreover, principal component analyses based on the whole dataset trisected the landraces into three distinct populations based on landrace usage—Hengduanshan, QTP, and the Himalayas. Nonetheless, our cumulative dataset showed evidence of adaptation of turnip landrace to different environments throughnonassociated genomic and phenomic plasticity.

Genetic and Genomic Diversity in a Tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet) Germplasm Collection and Adaptability to Mediterranean Climate Conditions

“…Realini et al [72] observed weak association between genome size and morphological traits in maize. Recently Basak et al [78] assessing the variation of morphological traits with the genome size in turnip found no correlation. This lack of association between morphological traits and genome size suggests that other factors are determinant on the control of such characteristics, reinforcing the view that genome size variations are mainly related to non-coding regions [79].…”

Genetic Diversity and Similarity of Asian and European Pears (Pyrus Spp.) Revealed by Genome Size and Morphological Traits Prediction

“…(Hanusova et al, 2014), and Iranian endemic muskmelon (Karimzadeh et al, 2010). Besides, Basak et al (2019) reported that genome size was not affected by the environment in the turnip. Although, genome size was directly and significantly correlated with cell size and stomatal density in some angiosperm species (Beaulieu et al, 2008).…”

Genome size variation withinCrithmum maritimum: Clues on the colonization of insular environments

“…Even in other life forms such as prokaryotes, it was already seen that a greater variability of the environment resulted in genomes with a larger number of genes (Bentkowski et al, 2015 ). However, it is important to note that these observations should be taken into consideration when extrapolating to other taxa, since negative (e.g., Bottini et al, 2000 ; Díez et al, 2013 ) and positive (e.g., Basak et al, 2019 ; Chrtek Jr. et al, 2009 ) correlations have been observed for longitude and latitude. The determination of nuclear DNA by flow cytometry can interfered by compounds on plants (Noirot et al, 2000 ; Price et al, 2000 ).…”