Hancock et al. 2011 Adaptation to Climate Across the Arabidopsis thaliana Genome

Understanding the genetic bases and modes of adaptation to current climatic conditions is essential to accurately predict responses to future environmental change. We conducted a genome-wide scan to identify climate-adaptive genetic loci and pathways in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Amino acid–changing variants were significantly enriched among the loci strongly correlated with climate, suggesting that our scan effectively detects adaptive alleles. Moreover, from our results, we successfully predicted relative fitness among a set of geographically diverse A. thaliana accessions when grown together in a common environment. Our results provide a set of candidates for dissecting the molecular bases of climate adaptations, as well as insights about the prevalence of selective sweeps, which has implications for predicting the rate of adaptation.
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Fournier-Level et al. 2011 A Map of Local Adaptation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Local adaptation is critical for species persistence in the face of rapid environmental change,
but its genetic basis is not well understood. Growing the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana in field experiments in four sites across the species’ native range, we identified candidate loci for local adaptation from a genome-wide association study of lifetime fitness in geographically diverse accessions. Fitness-associated loci exhibited both geographic and climatic signatures of local adaptation. Relative to genomic controls, high-fitness alleles were generally distributed closer
to the site where they increased fitness, occupying specific and distinct climate spaces. Independent loci with different molecular functions contributed most strongly to fitness variation in each
site. Independent local adaptation by distinct genetic mechanisms may facilitate a flexible evolutionary response to changing environment across a species range.

Tags: Arabidopsis, adaptation, genome scan, sweeps, JRI