Genetic and physiological mechanisms of freezing tolerance in locally adapted populations of a winter annual.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Despite myriad examples of local adaptation, the phenotypes and genetic variants underlying such adaptive differentiation are seldom known. Recent work on freezing tolerance and local adaptation in ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana from Italy and Sweden provides an essential foundation for uncovering the genotype-phenotype-fitness map for an adaptive response to a key environmental stress.

Methods

We examined the consequences of a naturally occurring loss-of-function (LOF) mutation in an Italian allele of the gene that encodes the transcription factor CBF2, which underlies a major freezing-tolerance locus. We used four lines with a Swedish genetic background, each containing a LOF CBF2 allele. Two lines had introgression segments containing the Italian CBF2 allele, an

SUBMITTER: Sanderson BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7065183 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature