Analyses of mechanisms of the trade-off in altitudinal adaptation in relation to phenotypic plasticity

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H03317
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 45040:Ecology and environment-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Hikosaka Kouki 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 教授 (10272006)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 花田 耕介 九州工業大学, 大学院情報工学研究院, 教授 (50462718)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 標高適応 / 低温耐性 / F2雑種解析 / ゲノムワイド関連解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We studied traits and genome of high and low altitudinal ecotypes of Arabidopsis halleri to find traits and genes related to altitudinal adaptations and trade-offs for their background. We produced many F2 hybrids of high and low latitudinal ecotypes and analyzed their tolerance to freezing temperature and photoinhibition at low temperatures. We found that high altitudinal ecotype is more tolerant to both freezing temperature and photoinhibition at low temperatures. We performed the genome-wide association analysis for the traits and detected several genes that are correlated with freezing or photoinhibition tolerance. We also found a trade-off between tolerance to photoinactivation of photosystem II and rate of recovery in photoinhibited photosystem II.

Free Research Field

植物生理生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

標高適応に関連した低温耐性がエコタイプ間で違うことを明らかにしたとともに、関連する遺伝子の特定に成功した。これらの知見は、温暖化を含む生物の温度応答の理解を深めるとともに、低温耐性作物の作出に貢献する可能性がある。