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Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Wessinger, CA; Hileman, LC; Rausher, MD
Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
August 2014

Distinct floral pollination syndromes have emerged multiple times during the diversification of flowering plants. For example, in western North America, a hummingbird pollination syndrome has evolved more than 100 times, generally from within insect-pollinated lineages. The hummingbird syndrome is characterized by a suite of floral traits that attracts and facilitates pollen movement by hummingbirds, while at the same time discourages bee visitation. These floral traits generally include large nectar volume, red flower colour, elongated and narrow corolla tubes and reproductive organs that are exerted from the corolla. A handful of studies have examined the genetic architecture of hummingbird pollination syndrome evolution. These studies find that mutations of relatively large effect often explain increased nectar volume and transition to red flower colour. In addition, they suggest that adaptive suites of floral traits may often exhibit a high degree of genetic linkage, which could facilitate their fixation during pollination syndrome evolution. Here, we explore these emerging generalities by investigating the genetic basis of floral pollination syndrome divergence between two related Penstemon species with different pollination syndromes--bee-pollinated P. neomexicanus and closely related hummingbird-pollinated P. barbatus. In an F2 mapping population derived from a cross between these two species, we characterized the effect size of genetic loci underlying floral trait divergence associated with the transition to bird pollination, as well as correlation structure of floral trait variation. We find the effect sizes of quantitative trait loci for adaptive floral traits are in line with patterns observed in previous studies, and find strong evidence that suites of floral traits are genetically linked. This linkage may be due to genetic proximity or pleiotropic effects of single causative loci. Interestingly, our data suggest that the evolution of floral traits critical for hummingbird pollination was not constrained by negative pleiotropy at loci that show co-localization for multiple traits.

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Published In

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences

DOI

EISSN

1471-2970

ISSN

0962-8436

Publication Date

August 2014

Volume

369

Issue

1648

Start / End Page

20130349

Related Subject Headings

  • Species Specificity
  • Southwestern United States
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Pollination
  • Pigmentation
  • Penstemon
  • Genotype
  • Flowers
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Crosses, Genetic
 

Citation

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Wessinger, C. A., Hileman, L. C., & Rausher, M. D. (2014). Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 369(1648), 20130349. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0349
Wessinger, Carolyn A., Lena C. Hileman, and Mark D. Rausher. “Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 369, no. 1648 (August 2014): 20130349. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0349.
Wessinger CA, Hileman LC, Rausher MD. Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological sciences. 2014 Aug;369(1648):20130349.
Wessinger, Carolyn A., et al. “Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, vol. 369, no. 1648, Aug. 2014, p. 20130349. Epmc, doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0349.
Wessinger CA, Hileman LC, Rausher MD. Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological sciences. 2014 Aug;369(1648):20130349.
Journal cover image

Published In

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences

DOI

EISSN

1471-2970

ISSN

0962-8436

Publication Date

August 2014

Volume

369

Issue

1648

Start / End Page

20130349

Related Subject Headings

  • Species Specificity
  • Southwestern United States
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Pollination
  • Pigmentation
  • Penstemon
  • Genotype
  • Flowers
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Crosses, Genetic