Pagel Ellen, Poschlod Peter, Reisch Christoph
Ecology and Conservation Biology Institute of Plant Sciences University of Regensburg Regensburg Germany.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Aug 17;10(18):10271-10280. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6689. eCollection 2020 Sep.
Plant species differ in their ecological amplitude, with some species occurring in very different habitats under strongly differentiated environmental conditions. We were interested in to what extent the occurrence of in dry calcareous grasslands (Bromion) and wet litter meadows (Molinion), two habitats on opposing ends concerning, for example, moisture level, is reflected on the genetic and epigenetic level. Using AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphisms) and MSAP (methylation sensitive amplification polymorphisms) analyses, we studied the genetic and epigenetic variation of from calcareous grasslands and litter meadows. From each habitat, we included five study sites with 16 individuals per sampling location. We observed lower genetic than epigenetic diversity, but considerable differentiation among habitats, which was stronger on the genetic than the epigenetic level. Additionally, we observed a strong correlation of genetic and epigenetic distance, irrespective of geographic distance. The dataset included a large portion of fragments exclusively found in individuals from one or the other habitat. Some epigenetic fragments even occurred in different methylation states depending on the habitat. We conclude that environmental effects act on both the genetic and epigenetic level, producing the clear differentiation among plant individuals from calcareous grasslands and litter meadows. These results may also point into the direction of ecotype formation in this species.
植物物种在其生态幅度上存在差异，一些物种在强烈分化的环境条件下出现在非常不同的栖息地中。我们感兴趣的是，在干旱钙质草原（ Bromion ）和潮湿凋落物草甸（ Molinion ）这两个在例如湿度水平等方面处于相反两端的栖息地中，其出现情况在遗传和表观遗传水平上是如何体现的。通过 AFLP（扩增片段长度多态性）和 MSAP（甲基化敏感扩增多态性）分析，我们研究了来自钙质草原和凋落物草甸的[物种名称未给出]的遗传和表观遗传变异。从每个栖息地中，我们选取了五个研究地点，每个采样地点有 16 个个体。我们观察到遗传多样性低于表观遗传多样性，但栖息地之间存在相当大的分化，这种分化在遗传水平上比在表观遗传水平上更强。此外，我们观察到遗传距离和表观遗传距离之间存在很强的相关性，而与地理距离无关。数据集中包含很大一部分仅在来自一个或另一个栖息地的个体中发现的片段。一些表观遗传片段甚至根据栖息地的不同而以不同的甲基化状态出现。我们得出结论，环境影响在遗传和表观遗传水平上都起作用，导致来自钙质草原和凋落物草甸的植物个体之间出现明显分化。这些结果也可能指向该物种生态型形成的方向。
