Plant Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Evolution & Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120, Halle, Germany.
New Phytol. 2019 Feb;221(3):1585-1596. doi: 10.1111/nph.15487. Epub 2018 Oct 12.
Within-species diversity is an important driver of ecological and evolutionary processes. Recent research has found that plants can harbour significant epigenetic diversity, but its extent, stability and ecological significance in natural populations is largely unexplored. We analysed genetic, epigenetic and phenotypic variation in a large number of natural grassland populations of Plantago lanceolata, covering a broad geographical and environmental range. Within-population diversity and among-population differentiation were calculated from genetic and epigenetic marker data and from measurements of phenotypic traits, both for plants in the field and for the F generation grown in a common environment. We found weak but significant epigenetic population structure. A large part of the epigenetic population differences observed in the field was maintained in a common environment. Epigenetic differences were consistently related to genetic and environmental variation, and to a lesser degree to phenotypic variation and land use, with more grazed populations harbouring greater epigenetic diversity. Our study demonstrates that epigenetic diversity exists in natural populations of a common grassland species, and that at least part of this epigenetic diversity is stable, nonrandom and related to environmental variation. Experimental and more detailed molecular studies are needed to elucidate the mechanistic basis of these observed patterns.
种内多样性是生态和进化过程的重要驱动因素。最近的研究发现，植物可以拥有显著的表观遗传多样性，但在自然种群中，其程度、稳定性和生态意义在很大程度上尚未得到探索。我们分析了大量 Plantago lanceolata 天然草原种群的遗传、表观遗传和表型变异，涵盖了广泛的地理和环境范围。从遗传和表观遗传标记数据以及田间植物和在共同环境中生长的 F1 代的表型性状测量值计算了种群内多样性和种群间分化。我们发现了微弱但显著的表观遗传种群结构。在野外观察到的大部分表观遗传种群差异在共同环境中得以维持。表观遗传差异与遗传和环境变异始终相关，与表型变异和土地利用的相关性较小，受放牧影响更大的种群具有更大的表观遗传多样性。我们的研究表明，表观遗传多样性存在于一种常见草原物种的自然种群中，而且这种表观遗传多样性的至少一部分是稳定的、非随机的，并且与环境变化有关。需要进行实验和更详细的分子研究，以阐明这些观察到的模式的机制基础。
