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Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae)
SIMPLE SUMMARY: Environmental abiotic stimuli, e.g., temperature stress conditions, can influence the phenotype, reproduction, and epigenetics of plants. How a plant responds to cold temperature stress regarding these aspects, together with the interactions between them and the ploidy level, is stil...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7600421/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33003474 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9100315 |
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author | Syngelaki, Eleni Daubert, Mareike Klatt, Simone Hörandl, Elvira |
author_facet | Syngelaki, Eleni Daubert, Mareike Klatt, Simone Hörandl, Elvira |
author_sort | Syngelaki, Eleni |
collection | PubMed |
description | SIMPLE SUMMARY: Environmental abiotic stimuli, e.g., temperature stress conditions, can influence the phenotype, reproduction, and epigenetics of plants. How a plant responds to cold temperature stress regarding these aspects, together with the interactions between them and the ploidy level, is still not intensively explored. Herein, we test such effects under experimental cold stress conditions on the species Ranunculus kuepferi, an alpine perennial herb, which mainly occurs in two cytotypes. Results suggest that diploid individuals grow better under warm conditions, while tetraploids prefer cold conditions. Moreover, phenotypic characteristics seem to correlate with the epigenetic patterns. Furthermore, cold stress conditions seem to reduce the reproductive fitness of both cytotypes. We propose that results illustrate that phenotypic plasticity, i.e., the ability of an organism, as a single genotype, to differentially respond to environmental stimuli, may affect the potential of the two cytotypes to tolerate cold stress. Finally, our study follows the geographical distribution of the species, i.e., the phenomenon that asexual taxa occupy larger geographical ranges than their sexual progenitors and extend further toward cold environments at high altitudes, which was previously observed for the natural population of the species in the European Alps. ABSTRACT: Plant life in alpine habitats is shaped by harsh abiotic conditions and cold climates. Phenotypic variation of morphological characters and reproduction can be influenced by temperature stress. Nevertheless, little is known about the performance of different cytotypes under cold stress and how epigenetic patterns could relate to phenotypic variation. Ranunculus kuepferi, a perennial alpine plant, served as a model system for testing the effect of cold stress on phenotypic plasticity, reproduction mode, and epigenetic variation. Diploid and autotetraploid individuals were placed in climate growth cabinets under warm and cold conditions. Morphological traits (height, leaves and flowers) and the proportion of well-developed seeds were measured as fitness indicators, while flow cytometric seed screening (FCSS) was utilized to determine the reproduction mode. Subsequently, comparisons with patterns of methylation-sensitive amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were conducted. Diploids grew better under warm conditions, while tetraploids performed better in cold treatments. Epigenetic patterns were correlated with the expressed morphological traits. Cold stress reduced the reproduction fitness but did not induce apomixis in diploids. Overall, our study underlines the potential of phenotypic plasticity for acclimation under environmental conditions and confirms the different niche preferences of cytotypes in natural populations. Results help to understand the pattern of geographical parthenogenesis in the species. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7600421 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-76004212020-11-01 Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) Syngelaki, Eleni Daubert, Mareike Klatt, Simone Hörandl, Elvira Biology (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Environmental abiotic stimuli, e.g., temperature stress conditions, can influence the phenotype, reproduction, and epigenetics of plants. How a plant responds to cold temperature stress regarding these aspects, together with the interactions between them and the ploidy level, is still not intensively explored. Herein, we test such effects under experimental cold stress conditions on the species Ranunculus kuepferi, an alpine perennial herb, which mainly occurs in two cytotypes. Results suggest that diploid individuals grow better under warm conditions, while tetraploids prefer cold conditions. Moreover, phenotypic characteristics seem to correlate with the epigenetic patterns. Furthermore, cold stress conditions seem to reduce the reproductive fitness of both cytotypes. We propose that results illustrate that phenotypic plasticity, i.e., the ability of an organism, as a single genotype, to differentially respond to environmental stimuli, may affect the potential of the two cytotypes to tolerate cold stress. Finally, our study follows the geographical distribution of the species, i.e., the phenomenon that asexual taxa occupy larger geographical ranges than their sexual progenitors and extend further toward cold environments at high altitudes, which was previously observed for the natural population of the species in the European Alps. ABSTRACT: Plant life in alpine habitats is shaped by harsh abiotic conditions and cold climates. Phenotypic variation of morphological characters and reproduction can be influenced by temperature stress. Nevertheless, little is known about the performance of different cytotypes under cold stress and how epigenetic patterns could relate to phenotypic variation. Ranunculus kuepferi, a perennial alpine plant, served as a model system for testing the effect of cold stress on phenotypic plasticity, reproduction mode, and epigenetic variation. Diploid and autotetraploid individuals were placed in climate growth cabinets under warm and cold conditions. Morphological traits (height, leaves and flowers) and the proportion of well-developed seeds were measured as fitness indicators, while flow cytometric seed screening (FCSS) was utilized to determine the reproduction mode. Subsequently, comparisons with patterns of methylation-sensitive amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were conducted. Diploids grew better under warm conditions, while tetraploids performed better in cold treatments. Epigenetic patterns were correlated with the expressed morphological traits. Cold stress reduced the reproduction fitness but did not induce apomixis in diploids. Overall, our study underlines the potential of phenotypic plasticity for acclimation under environmental conditions and confirms the different niche preferences of cytotypes in natural populations. Results help to understand the pattern of geographical parthenogenesis in the species. MDPI 2020-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7600421/ /pubmed/33003474 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9100315 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Syngelaki, Eleni Daubert, Mareike Klatt, Simone Hörandl, Elvira Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title | Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title_full | Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title_fullStr | Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title_full_unstemmed | Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title_short | Phenotypic Responses, Reproduction Mode and Epigenetic Patterns under Temperature Treatments in the Alpine Plant Species Ranunculus kuepferi (Ranunculaceae) |
title_sort | phenotypic responses, reproduction mode and epigenetic patterns under temperature treatments in the alpine plant species ranunculus kuepferi (ranunculaceae) |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7600421/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33003474 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9100315 |
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