Population genomic footprints of selection and associations with climate in natural populations of Arabidopsis halleri from the Alps
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Date
2013-11
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
Natural genetic variation is essential for the adaptation of organisms to their local environment and to changing environmental conditions. Here, we examine genomewide patterns of nucleotide variation in natural populations of the outcrossing herb Arabidopsis halleri and associations with climatic variation among populations in the Alps. Using a pooled population sequencing (Pool-Seq) approach, we discovered more than two million SNPs in five natural populations and identified highly differentiated genomic regions and SNPs using FST-based analyses. We tested only the most strongly differentiated SNPs for associations with a nonredundant set of environmental factors using partial Mantel tests to identify topo-climatic factors that may underlie the observed footprints of selection. Possible functions of genes showing signatures of selection were identified by Gene Ontology analysis. We found 175 genes to be highly associated with one or more of the five tested topo-climatic factors. Of these, 23.4% had unknown functions. Genetic variation in four candidate genes was strongly associated with site water balance and solar radiation, and functional annotations were congruent with these environmental factors. Our results provide a genomewide perspective on the distribution of adaptive genetic variation in natural plant populations from a highly diverse and heterogeneous alpine environment.
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Publication status
published
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Book title
Journal / series
Volume
22 (22)
Pages / Article No.
5594 - 5607
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
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Edition / version
Methods
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Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Adaptation; Environmental association; Genome resequencing; Pooled sequencing; Pool-Seq; Population genomics
Organisational unit
03706 - Widmer, Alexander / Widmer, Alexander
09856 - Holderegger, Rolf / Holderegger, Rolf