Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
BMC Plant Biol. 2021 Nov 9;21(1):522. doi: 10.1186/s12870-021-03293-y.
Japanese knotweed (R. japonica var japonica) is one of the world's 100 worst invasive species, causing crop losses, damage to infrastructure, and erosion of ecosystem services. In the UK, this species is an all-female clone, which spreads by vegetative reproduction. Despite this genetic continuity, Japanese knotweed can colonise a wide variety of environmental habitats. However, little is known about the phenotypic plasticity responsible for the ability of Japanese knotweed to invade and thrive in such diverse habitats. We have used attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, in which the spectral fingerprint generated allows subtle differences in composition to be clearly visualized, to examine regional differences in clonal Japanese knotweed.
We have shown distinct differences in the spectral fingerprint region (1800-900 cm) of Japanese knotweed from three different regions in the UK that were sufficient to successfully identify plants from different geographical regions with high accuracy using support vector machine (SVM) chemometrics.
These differences were not correlated with environmental variations between regions, raising the possibility that epigenetic modifications may contribute to the phenotypic plasticity responsible for the ability of R. japonica to invade and thrive in such diverse habitats.
日本虎杖（R. japonica var japonica）是世界上最严重的 100 种入侵物种之一，会导致作物减产、基础设施损坏和生态系统服务功能丧失。在英国，这种物种是全雌性克隆体，通过营养繁殖进行传播。尽管存在这种遗传连续性，但日本虎杖可以在广泛的环境生境中定殖。然而，对于日本虎杖能够在如此多样化的栖息地中入侵和茁壮成长的表型可塑性知之甚少。我们使用衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外（ATR-FTIR）光谱，其中生成的光谱指纹可以清晰地可视化组成上的细微差异，来研究英国三个不同地区克隆日本虎杖的区域差异。
我们展示了来自英国三个不同地区的日本虎杖在光谱指纹区域（1800-900 cm）存在明显差异，足以使用支持向量机（SVM）化学计量学成功地以高精度识别来自不同地理区域的植物。
这些差异与区域之间的环境变化无关，这增加了这样一种可能性，即表观遗传修饰可能有助于解释表型可塑性，这是 R. japonica 能够在如此多样化的栖息地中入侵和茁壮成长的原因。
