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Genomic basis and evolutionary potential for extreme drought adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Exposito-Alonso, M; Vasseur, F; Ding, W; Wang, G; Burbano, HA; Weigel, D; (2018) Genomic basis and evolutionary potential for extreme drought adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature Ecology & Evolution , 2 (2) pp. 352-358. 10.1038/s41559-017-0423-0. Green open access

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Abstract

As Earth is currently experiencing dramatic climate change, it is of critical interest to understand how species will respond to it. The chance of a species withstanding climate change is likely to depend on the diversity within the species and, particularly, whether there are sub-populations that are already adapted to extreme environments. However, most predictive studies ignore that species comprise genetically diverse individuals. We have identified genetic variants in Arabidopsis thaliana that are associated with survival of an extreme drought event—a major consequence of global warming. Subsequently, we determined how these variants are distributed across the native range of the species. Genetic alleles conferring higher drought survival showed signatures of polygenic adaptation and were more frequently found in Mediterranean and Scandinavian regions. Using geo-environmental models, we predicted that Central European, but not Mediterranean, populations might lag behind in adaptation by the end of the twenty-first century. Further analyses showed that a population decline could nevertheless be compensated by natural selection acting efficiently over standing variation or by migration of adapted individuals from populations at the margins of the species’ distribution. These findings highlight the importance of within-species genetic heterogeneity in facilitating an evolutionary response to a changing climate.

Type: Article
Title: Genomic basis and evolutionary potential for extreme drought adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0423-0
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0423-0
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Keywords: climate change; polygenic adaptation; GWA; environmental niche models; random forest; drought; Arabidopsis thaliana; image processing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107264
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