Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 185, Issue 1, Pages 322-331Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03057.x
Keywords
Arabidopsis thaliana; competition; kin recognition; kin selection; microarrays; plant growth; silique number
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Funding
- Faculty of Biology and Medicine Research Commission Fund
- University of Lausanne
- Swiss NSF
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P>In many organisms, individuals behave more altruistically towards relatives than towards unrelated individuals. Here, we conducted a study to determine if the performance of Arabidopsis thaliana is influenced by whether individuals are in competition with kin or non-kin. We selected seven pairs of genetically distinct accessions that originated from local populations throughout Europe. We measured the biomass of one focal plant surrounded by six kin or non-kin neighbours in in vitro growth experiments and counted the number of siliques produced per pot by one focal plant surrounded by four kin or non-kin neighbours. The biomass and number of siliques of a focal plant were not affected by the relatedness of the neighbour. Depending on the accession, a plant performed better or worse in a pure stand than when surrounded by non-kin plants. In addition, whole-genome microarray analyses revealed that there were no genes differentially expressed between kin and non-kin conditions. In conclusion, our study does not provide any evidence for a differential response to kin vs non-kin in A. thaliana. Rather, the outcome of the interaction between kin and non-kin seems to depend on the strength of the competitive abilities of the accessions.
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