Biology subjects

Tylova, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Tylova, E..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Root foraging response to gradients of calcium and magnesium, essential bivalent cations with low mobility in the soil

Plants forage for nutrients by root proliferation in nutrient-rich patches. While foraging for nitrogen and phosphorus has been repeatedly confirmed, foraging for calcium and magnesium, which are essential for plant growth and form much more stable patches in the soil, has never been examined. We examined preferential root placement into dolomite-limestone-rich patches in a pot experiment with 17 species, and compared it with foraging for a nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium mixture (NPK). About one half of the species showed root proliferation in dolomite-rich patches. It was less pronounced than foraging for NPK and did not show any relationship to species field preferences to soil reaction, or dicots-grass difference, but it showed clear negative relationship to species-specific Ca+Mg tissue concentrations. While foraging for NPK shows the potential of species to change their root systems by proliferation, only some species use this potential to respond to the Ca+Mg gradient. The negative correlation of this response to Ca+Mg tissue concentrations implies that nonresponding species compensate for it by physiological mechanisms. The response to Ca+Mg also implies that in contrast to nitrogen, which never shows stable patches in the soil, Ca+Mg-rich patches, which are much more stable, can be exploited by root proliferation.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Genomic basis and phenotypic manifestation of (non-)parallel serpentine adaptation in Arabidopsis arenosa

Parallel evolution is common in nature and provides one of the most compelling examples of rapid environmental adaptation. In contrast to the recent burst of studies addressing genomic basis of parallel evolution, integrative studies linking genomic and phenotypic parallelism are scarce. Edaphic islands of toxic serpentine soils provide ideal systems for studying rapid parallel adaptation in plants, imposing strong, spatially replicated selection on recently diverged populations. We leveraged threefold independent serpentine adaptation of Arabidopsis arenosa and combined reciprocal transplants, ion uptake phenotyping, and available genome-wide polymorphisms to test if parallelism is manifested to a similar extent at both genomic and phenotypic levels. We found pervasive phenotypic parallelism in functional traits yet with varying magnitude of fitness differences that was congruent with neutral genetic differentiation between populations. Limited costs of serpentine adaptation suggest absence of soil-driven trade-offs. On the other hand, the genomic parallelism at the gene level was significant, although relatively minor. Therefore, the similarly modified phenotypes e.g., of ion uptake arose possibly by selection on different loci in similar functional pathways. In summary, we bring evidence for the important role of genetic redundancy in rapid adaptation involving traits with polygenic architecture.

evolutionary biology↗