Search

The genomic architecture of functionally important traits is key to understanding the maintenance of reproductive barriers and trait differences when divergent populations or species hybridize. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to study trait architecture in natural hybrids of two ecologically divergent Populus species. We genotyped 472 seedlings from a natural hybrid zone of Populus alba and Populus tremula for genome-wide markers from reduced representation sequencing, phenotyped the plants in common gardens for 46 phytochemical (phenylpropanoid), morphological and growth traits, and used a Bayesian polygenic model for mapping. We detected three classes of genomic architectures: traits with finite, detectable associations of genetic loci with phenotypic variation in addition to highly polygenic heritability; traits with indications for polygenic heritability only; and traits with no detectable heritability. For the first class, we identified genome regions with plausible candidate genes for phenylpropanoid biosynthesis or its regulation, including MYB transcription factors and glycosyl transferases. GWAS in natural, recombinant hybrids represent a promising step towards resolving the genomic architecture of phenotypic traits in long-lived species. This facilitates the fine-mapping and subsequent functional characterization of genes and networks causing differences in hybrid performance and fitness.

Introgression can be an important source of adaptive phenotypes, although conversely it can have deleterious effects. Evidence for adaptive introgression is accumulating but information on the genetic architecture of introgressed traits lags behind., Here we determine trait architecture in Populus trichocarpa under introgression from P. balsamifera using admixture mapping and phenotypic analyses., Our results reveal that admixture is a key driver of clinal adaptation and suggest that the northern range extension of P. trichocarpa depends, at least in part, on introgression from P. balsamifera. However, admixture with P. balsamifera can lead to potentially maladaptive early phenology, and a reduction in growth and disease resistance in P. trichocarpa. Strikingly, an introgressed chromosome 9 haplotype block from P. balsamifera restores the late phenology and high growth parental phenotype in admixed P. trichocarpa. This epistatic restorer block may be strongly advantageous in maximizing carbon assimilation and disease resistance in the southernmost populations where admixture has been detected. We also confirm a previously demonstrated case of adaptive introgression in chromosome 15 and show that introgression generates a transgressive chlorophyll-content phenotype., We provide strong support that introgression provides a reservoir of genetic variation associated with adaptive characters that allows improved survival in new environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential patterns of introgression between species across ecological gradients provide a fine-scale depiction of extrinsic and intrinsic factors that contribute to the maintenance of species barriers and adaptation across heterogeneous environments., Introgression was examined for 721 individuals collected from the ecological transition zone spanning maritime to continental climates within the Picea sitchensis- Picea glauca contact zone using a panel of 268 candidate gene single nucleotide polymorphisms., Geographic clines showed a strong spatial relationship between allele frequencies and both distance from the ocean along major rivers and mean annual precipitation, indicating a strong role for environmental selection. Interspecific patterns of differentiation using outlier tests revealed three candidate genes that may be targets of long-term divergent selection between the parental species, although contemporary genomic clines within the hybrid zone suggested neutral patterns of introgression for these genes., This study provides a fine-scale analysis of locus-specific introgression, identifying a suite of candidate loci that may be targets of extrinsic or intrinsic selection, with broad application in understanding local adaptation to climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spatial genetic structure (SGS) holds the key to understanding the role of clonality in hybrid persistence, but multilocus SGS in hybrid zones has rarely been quantified. Here, the aim was to fill this gap for natural hybrids between two diploid, ecologically divergent European tree species with mixed sexual/asexual reproduction, Populus alba and P. tremula. • Nuclear microsatellites were used to quantify clonality, SGS, and historical gene dispersal distances in up to 407 trees from an extensive Central European hybrid zone including three subpopulation replicates. The focus was on P. ×  canescens and its backcross parent P. alba, as these two genotypic classes co-occur and interact directly. • Sexual recombination in both taxa was more prominent than previously thought, but P. ×  canescens hybrids tended to build larger clones extending over larger areas than P. alba. The 3.4 times stronger SGS in the P. ×  canescens genet population was best explained by a combination of interspecific gene flow, assortative mating, and increased clonality in hybrids. • Clonality potentially contributes to the maintenance of hybrid zones of P. alba and P. tremula in time and space. Both clonality and SGS need to be taken into account explicitly when designing population genomics studies of locus-specific effects in hybrid zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• To contribute to the understanding of ecological differentiation in speciation, we compared salinity responses of the halophytic diploid hybrid species Helianthus paradoxus and its glycophytic progenitors Helianthus annuus and Helianthus petiolaris. • Plants of three populations of each species were subjected to a control (nonsaline) and three salinity treatments, including one simulating the ion composition in the habitat of H. paradoxus. • Relative to the control, saline treatments led to a 17% biomass increase in H. paradoxus while its progenitors suffered 19–33% productivity reductions and only in H. paradoxus, leaf contents of potassium, calcium, and magnesium were strongly reduced. Under all treatments, H. paradoxus allocated more resources to roots, was more succulent, and had higher leaf contents of sodium (> 200 mmol l−1 tissue water) and sulfur than its progenitor species. • These results suggest that salt tolerance and thus speciation of H. paradoxus is related to sodium replacing potassium, calcium and magnesium as vacuolar osmotica. The evolutionary and genetic mechanisms likely to be involved are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have studied the origin of salt adaptation in wild sunflower hybrids ( Helianthus annuus ×  H. petiolaris), the precursors of the diploid hybrid species H. paradoxus, at the level of phenotypic traits and quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Here, we review this work and present new results on candidate gene polymorphisms. • Salt tolerance candidate genes were identified in expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries of sunflower, based on homology to genes with known function, and on previous QTL results. EST polymorphisms were assayed by denaturing HPLC and genetically mapped in an interspecific BC2 for which fitness estimates in the wild were available. • Out of 11 genes studied, one mapped to a salt tolerance QTL. This EST codes for a Ca-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) and stems from stress-induced root tissue of Helianthus annuus. Two additional stress-induced genes exhibited a significant fitness effect in the wild: an ER-type calcium ATPase, and a transcriptional regulator. • Our results suggest a possible adaptive role for Ca-dependent salt tolerance genes in wild sunflower hybrids. Also, transgressive segregation appears to be sufficient to explain the origin of adaptive genetic variation in hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]