Shen Xia, De Jonge Jennifer, Forsberg Simon K G, Pettersson Mats E, Sheng Zheya, Hennig Lars, Carlborg Örjan
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Computational Genetics, Uppsala, Sweden; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Stockholm, Sweden; University of Edinburgh, MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, MRC Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala, Sweden.
PLoS Genet. 2014 Dec 11;10(12):e1004842. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004842. eCollection 2014 Dec.
As Arabidopsis thaliana has colonized a wide range of habitats across the world it is an attractive model for studying the genetic mechanisms underlying environmental adaptation. Here, we used public data from two collections of A. thaliana accessions to associate genetic variability at individual loci with differences in climates at the sampling sites. We use a novel method to screen the genome for plastic alleles that tolerate a broader climate range than the major allele. This approach reduces confounding with population structure and increases power compared to standard genome-wide association methods. Sixteen novel loci were found, including an association between Chromomethylase 2 (CMT2) and temperature seasonality where the genome-wide CHH methylation was different for the group of accessions carrying the plastic allele. Cmt2 mutants were shown to be more tolerant to heat-stress, suggesting genetic regulation of epigenetic modifications as a likely mechanism underlying natural adaptation to variable temperatures, potentially through differential allelic plasticity to temperature-stress.
由于拟南芥已在全球广泛的栖息地中定殖，它是研究环境适应潜在遗传机制的一个有吸引力的模型。在这里，我们使用了来自两个拟南芥种质资源库的公开数据，将单个位点的遗传变异与采样地点的气候差异联系起来。我们使用一种新方法在基因组中筛选出比主要等位基因能耐受更广泛气候范围的可塑性等位基因。与标准的全基因组关联方法相比，这种方法减少了与种群结构的混杂，并提高了检验效能。我们发现了16个新位点，包括染色质甲基转移酶2（CMT2）与温度季节性之间的关联，其中携带可塑性等位基因的种质资源组的全基因组CHH甲基化存在差异。已证明Cmt2突变体对热胁迫更耐受，这表明表观遗传修饰的遗传调控可能是自然适应温度变化的潜在机制，可能是通过对温度胁迫的不同等位基因可塑性实现的。
