Variance, Genetic Control, and Spatial Phenotypic Plasticity of Morphological and Phenological Traits in Prunus spinosa and Its Large Fruited Forms (P. x fruticans)

Abstract

Prunus spinosa is a highly esteemed shrub in forest and landscape plantings. Shrubs with larger organs occur often and are considered either as large fruited forms of P. spinosa or as P. x fruticans, involving a hybridization process with the ancient cultivated P. insititia (crop-to-wild gene flow). As climate change may augment hybridization processes in the future, a hybrid origin is important to detect. In addition, studying crop-to-wild gene flow can give insights in putative consequences for the wild populations. We studied the P. spinosa–P. x fruticans group, focusing on morphology and phenology in three experimental plantations. Two plantings harbored cuttings of P. spinosa (clone plantations). A third plantation comprised of a half-sib offspring from a population with both P. spinosa and P. x fruticans (family plantation). Several results point to a hybridization process as the origin of P. x fruticans. The clone plantation revealed endocarp traits to be more genetically controlled than fruit size, while this was the opposite in the family plantation, suggesting the control of fruit size being derived from the putative P. insititia parent. Bud burst, flower opening, and leaf fall were genetically controlled in the clone plantation, whereas in the family plantation intrafamily variability was remarkably large for the bud burst and leaf fall, but not for the flower opening. This suggests there is a reduced genetic control for the first two phenophases, possibly caused by historic hybridization events. Pubescence on the long shoot leaves in the family plantation deviated from the short shoot leaves on the same plants and from long and short shoot leaves in the clone plantation, suggesting again a P. insititia origin. Finally, we quantified spatial phenotypic plasticity, indicating how P. spinosa may react in a changing environment. In contrast to the bud burst and leaf fall, flower opening did not demonstrate plasticity. The fruit size was diminished at the growth site with the shortest growing season while interestingly, the leaf width was enlarged. Leaf size traits appeared more plastic on the long shoots compared to the short shoots, although partitioning of variance did not display a lesser genetic control.

A contribution to the variability ofPrunus spinosaL. in the vicinity of the mediaeval Castle Kolno, near Brzeg, S-W Poland

“…A detailed morphological and phenological analysis (Vander Mijnsbrugge et al 2016) and breeding tests (Woldring 1997/1998) of the P. spinosa – P . × fruticans complex showed that the latter taxon is certainly a hybrid of blackthorn and cultivated plums as a result of various crossings.…”

Unlocking Plum Genetic Potential: Where Are We At?

“…Due to this complexity and recurrent hybridizations and/or allopolyploidy phenomena, taxonomy has been controversial until recent times [3,44], and phylogenetic studies, both with nuclear and chloroplast approaches, have recently revealed an intricate evolutionary history of the genus along with close, but conflicting, relationships among and within subgenera [1, 42,[45][46][47].…”

To be browsed or not to be browsed: differences in nutritional characteristics of blackthornPrunus spinosasubject to the long-term pressure of herbivores

“…Rosaceae, Fagaceae and Rubiaceae are among the preferred families of plants consumed by ungulates (Gebert and Verheyden-Tixier 2001;Storms et al 2008;Freschi et al 2021). The genus Prunus L. (Rosaceae) includes over 200 species of trees and shrubs (Arnold Arboretum, 1940), some of which are commercially important (Veličković et al 2021), are used in the restoration of historical landscapes (Mijnsbrugge et al 2016;Mijnsbrugge et al 2022) and boost species diversity by providing appropriate foraging and habitat resources for wildlife (Popescu and Caudullo 2016). A general characteristic of plants of the genus Prunus is that they contain carbon (C)-and N-rich defensive compounds (Santos Pimenta et al 2014;Peschiutta et al 2018), and also Ca-based inducible defence mechanisms such as calcium oxalate crystals (COC) (Peschiutta et al 2020).…”

“…Blackthorn Prunus spinosa is one of the most widespread and common wild shrub species in Europe (Mijnsbrugge et al 2016), occurring mainly in central and western parts of the continent with range limits in southern Scandinavia, Asia Minor, Caucasus and North Africa (Seneta and Dolatowski 1997;Popescu and Caudullo, 2016). The species is commonly found along the margins of deciduous forests, as a component of thermophilous communities, and as one of the successional species along former meadows and arable fields (Szafer and Zarzycki 1977;Seneta and Dolatowski 1997;Popescu and Caudullo 2016).…”