UMR759 Laboratoire d'Ecophysiologie des Plantes sous Stress Environnementaux (LEPSE), INRA, Montpellier, France.
Ecol Lett. 2012 Oct;15(10):1149-57. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01839.x. Epub 2012 Jul 31.
Many facets of plant form and function are reflected in general cross-taxa scaling relationships. Metabolic scaling theory (MST) and the leaf economics spectrum (LES) have each proposed unifying frameworks and organisational principles to understand the origin of botanical diversity. Here, we test the evolutionary assumptions of MST and the LES using a cross of two genetic variants of Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that there is enough genetic variation to generate a large fraction of variation in the LES and MST scaling functions. The progeny sharing the parental, naturally occurring, allelic combinations at two pleiotropic genes exhibited the theorised optimum ¾ allometric scaling of growth rate and intermediate leaf economics. Our findings: (1) imply that a few pleiotropic genes underlie many plant functional traits and life histories; (2) unify MST and LES within a common genetic framework and (3) suggest that observed intermediate size and longevity in natural populations originate from stabilising selection to optimise physiological trade-offs.
植物形态和功能的许多方面反映在一般的跨分类群尺度关系中。代谢缩放理论（MST）和叶片经济谱（LES）各自提出了统一的框架和组织原则，以了解植物多样性的起源。在这里，我们使用拟南芥的两个遗传变异体的杂交来检验 MST 和 LES 的进化假设。我们表明，存在足够的遗传变异来产生 LES 和 MST 缩放函数的很大一部分变异。共享父母自然发生的等位基因组合的后代在两个多效基因上表现出理论上的最佳¾生长率和中间叶片经济的异速缩放。我们的发现：（1）意味着少数几个多效基因是许多植物功能性状和生活史的基础；（2）在共同的遗传框架内统一了 MST 和 LES；（3）表明在自然种群中观察到的中间大小和寿命源自于稳定选择，以优化生理权衡。
