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Genotype by environment interactions for the shade avoidance syndrome in the plant Antirrhinum majus, the snapdragon

M. Mousset,Sara Marin,Juliette Archambeau,Christel Blot,V. Bonhomme,Laura Garaud,B. Pujol

Published 2018 in bioRxiv

ABSTRACT

A classical example of phenotypic plasticity in plants is the set of trait changes in response to shade, i.e. the shade avoidance syndrome. There is widespread evidence that plants in low light conditions often avoid shade by growing taller or by increasing their photosynthetic efficiency. This plastic response is expected to have evolved in response to selection in several species, yet there is limited evidence for its genetic variation within populations, which is required for any evolutionary response to selection. In this study, we investigated the shade avoidance syndrome in snapdragon plants (Antirrhinum majus) by using a common garden approach on four natural populations from the Mediterranean region. Our results showed that, in the four populations, individual plants reacted strongly to the presence of shade by growing longer shoots, longer internodes, and increasing their specific leaf area. Our results also revealed genetic variation for the plastic response within these populations, as well as few genetic constraints to its evolution. Our findings imply that the plastic response to shade has the potential to evolve in response to selection in natural populations of A. majus.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2018

  • Venue

    bioRxiv

  • Publication date

    2018-05-25

  • Fields of study

    Biology, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1101/331033
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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