Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 205, Issue 1, Pages 402-414Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nph.13027
Keywords
adaptation; drought; ecotype; physiology; pleiotropy; quantitative trait locus (QTL); reproductive isolation
Categories
Funding
- University of Texas Freshman Research Initiative
- National Science Foundation [IOS-0922457, DBI 1103668]
- United States Department of Agriculture NIFA-AFRI Postdoctoral Fellowship [2011-67012-30696]
- Office of Science of the US Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0922457] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The process of plant speciation often involves the evolution of divergent ecotypes in response to differences in soil water availability between habitats. While the same set of traits is frequently associated with xeric/mesic ecotype divergence, it is unknown whether those traits evolve independently or if they evolve in tandem as a result of genetic colocalization either by pleiotropy or genetic linkage. The self-fertilizing C-4 grass species Panicum hallii includes two major ecotypes found in xeric (var. hallii) or mesic (var. filipes) habitats. We constructed the first linkage map for P.hallii by genotyping a reduced representation genomic library of an F-2 population derived from an intercross of var. hallii and filipes. We then evaluated the genetic architecture of divergence between these ecotypes through quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping. Overall, we mapped QTLs for nine morphological traits that are involved in the divergence between the ecotypes. QTLs for five key ecotype-differentiating traits all colocalized to the same region of linkage group five. Leaf physiological traits were less divergent between ecotypes, but we still mapped five physiological QTLs. We also discovered a two-locus Dobzhansky-Muller hybrid incompatibility. Our study suggests that ecotype-differentiating traits may evolve in tandem as a result of genetic colocalization.
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