Natural populations of Arabidopsis thaliana differ in seedling responses to high-temperature stress

Little is known about adaptive within-species variation in thermotolerance in wild plants despite its likely role in both functional adaptation at range limits and in predicting response to climate change. Heat shock protein Hsp101, rapidly heat induced in Arabidopsis thaliana, plays a central role in thermotolerance in laboratory studies, yet little is known about variation in its expression in natural populations. We explored variation in thermotolerance and Hsp101 expression in seedlings from 16 natural populations of A. thaliana sampled along an elevation and climate gradient. We tested both naive controls (maintained at 22 °C until heat stress) and thermally pre-acclimated plants (exposed to a 38 °C 3-h acclimation treatment). After acclimation, seedlings were exposed to one of two heat stresses: 42 or 45 °C. Thermotolerance was measured as post-stress seedling survival and root growth. When stressed at 45 °C, both thermotolerance and Hsp101 expression were significantly increased by pre-acclimation. However, thermotolerance did not differ between pre-acclimation and control when followed by a 42 °C stress. Immediately after heat stress, pre-acclimated seedlings contained significantly more Hsp101 than control seedlings. At 45 °C, Hsp101 expression was positively associated with survival (r(2) = 0.37) and post-stress root growth (r(2) = 0.15). Importantly, seedling survival, post-stress root growth at 45 °C and Hsp101 expression at 42 °C were significantly correlated with the home sites' first principal component of climate variation. This climate gradient mainly reflects a temperature and precipitation gradient. Thus, the extent of Hsp101 expression modulation and thermotolerance appear to be interrelated and to evolve adaptively in natural populations of A. thaliana.