Temperature-mediated flower size plasticity in Arabidopsis

Andrew Wiszniewski; Estefanía Uberegui; Michaela Messer; Gulmairam Sultanova; Monica Borghi; Gustavo Turqueto Duarte; Rubén Vicente; Katelyn Sageman-Furnas; Alisdair R Fernie; Zoran Nikoloski; Roosa A E Laitinen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105411

Temperature-mediated flower size plasticity in Arabidopsis

iScience. 2022 Oct 21;25(11):105411. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105411. eCollection 2022 Nov 18.

Authors

Andrew Wiszniewski¹, Estefanía Uberegui¹, Michaela Messer¹, Gulmairam Sultanova¹, Monica Borghi^{2

3}, Gustavo Turqueto Duarte^{1

4}, Rubén Vicente^{5

6}, Katelyn Sageman-Furnas^{1

7}, Alisdair R Fernie², Zoran Nikoloski^{8

9}, Roosa A E Laitinen^{1

10}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Adaptation Group, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany.
² Central Metabolism Group, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany.
³ Utah State University, Department of Biology, Logan, UT, USA.
⁴ Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN), Unit for Biosphere Impact Studies, Boeretang 200 - 2400 Mol, Belgium.
⁵ System Regulation Group, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany.
⁶ Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Lab, ITQB Nova - Plant Sciences Division, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
⁷ Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
⁸ Systems Biology and Mathematical Modelling Group, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany.
⁹ Bioinformatics, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
¹⁰ Organismal and Evolutionary Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Viikki Plant Science Centre, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

Organisms can rapidly mitigate the effects of environmental changes by changing their phenotypes, known as phenotypic plasticity. Yet, little is known about the temperature-mediated plasticity of traits that are directly linked to plant fitness such as flower size. We discovered substantial genetic variation in flower size plasticity to temperature both among selfing Arabidopsis thaliana and outcrossing A. arenosa individuals collected from a natural growth habitat. Genetic analysis using a panel of 290 A. thaliana accession and mutant lines revealed that MADS AFFECTING FLOWERING (MAF) 2-5 gene cluster, previously shown to regulate temperature-mediated flowering time, was associated to the flower size plasticity to temperature. Furthermore, our findings pointed that the control of plasticity differs from control of the trait itself. Altogether, our study advances the understanding of genetic and molecular factors underlying plasticity on fundamental fitness traits, such as flower size, in response to future climate scenarios.

Keywords: Plant biology; Plant genetics; Plant morphology; Plant physiology.