Adaptive plasticity and epigenetic variation in response to warming in an Alpine plant

• Published in: Ecology and evolution 2015-02, Vol.5 (3), p.634-647
• Main Authors: Nicotra, Adrienne B., Segal, Deborah L., Hoyle, Gemma L., Schrey, Aaron W., Verhoeven, Koen J. F., Richards, Christina L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive plasticity; alpine plants; Amplified fragment length polymorphism; Changing environments; Climate change; Critical components; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Differentiation; DNA; DNA methylation; Elevation; Epigenetics; Gene polymorphism; Generalized linear models; global warming; High temperature; National parks; Original Research; Phenotypes; Phenotypic plasticity; Plant introductions; Plastic properties; Plasticity; Polymorphism; Seedlings; Seeds; Temperature effects
• ISSN: 2045-7758; 2045-7758
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1329

Environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity may be a critical component of response to changing environments. We examined local differentiation and adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to elevated temperature in half‐sib lines collected across an elevation gradient for the alpine herb, Wahlenbergia ceracea. Using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), we found low but significant genetic differentiation between low‐ and high‐elevation seedlings, and seedlings originating from low elevations grew faster and showed stronger temperature responses (more plasticity) than those from medium and high elevations. Furthermore, plasticity was more often adaptive for plants of low‐elevation origin and maladaptive for plants of high elevation. With methylation sensitive‐AFLP (MS‐AFLP), we revealed an increase in epigenetic variation in response to temperature in low‐elevation seedlings. Although we did not find significant direct correlations between MS‐AFLP loci and phenotypes, our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response to warming varies over fine spatial scales and suggest the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response. Our work presents an exciting fusion of research on epigenetics (DNA methylation in particular) and adaptive phenotypic plasticity. The relationship between epigenetic mechanisms and phenotypic plasticity has been the subject of increasing speculation in ecological studies. Our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response of an alpine herb varies over remarkably fine geographic scales and indicates the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response.