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Genetic architecture of quantitative flower and leaf traits in a pair of sympatric sister species of Primulina.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Feng, C; Feng, C; Yang, L; Kang, M; Rausher, MD
Published in: Heredity
June 2019

Flowers and leaves each represent suites of functionally interrelated traits that are often involved in species divergence and local adaptation. However, a major unresolved issue is how the individual component traits that make up a complex trait such as a flower evolve in a coordinated fashion to retain a high degree of functionality. We use a quantitative trait loci (QTL) approach to elucidate the genetic architecture of divergence in flower and leaf traits between the sister species Primulina depressa and Primulina danxiaensis, which grow sympatrically but in contrasting microhabitats. We found that flower traits were controlled by multiple QTL of small effect, while leaf physiological and morphological traits tended to be controlled by QTL of larger effect. The observed floral integration, manifested by a high degree overlap in both individual trait QTL and QTL for principal component scores (PCA QTL), may have been critical for evolutionary divergence of floral morphology in relation to their pollinators. This overlap suggests that direct selection on only one or a few of the component traits could have caused substantial divergence in other floral traits due to genetic correlations, while the low QTL overlap between floral and vegetative traits suggests that these trait suites are genetically unlinked and can evolve independently in response to different selective pressures corresponding to their distinct functions.

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Published In

Heredity

DOI

EISSN

1365-2540

ISSN

0018-067X

Publication Date

June 2019

Volume

122

Issue

6

Start / End Page

864 / 876

Related Subject Headings

  • Sympatry
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Plant Leaves
  • Lamiales
  • Flowers
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
 

Citation

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Feng, C., Yang, L., Kang, M., & Rausher, M. D. (2019). Genetic architecture of quantitative flower and leaf traits in a pair of sympatric sister species of Primulina. Heredity, 122(6), 864–876. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0170-2
Feng, Chen, Chao Feng, Lihua Yang, Ming Kang, and Mark D. Rausher. “Genetic architecture of quantitative flower and leaf traits in a pair of sympatric sister species of Primulina.Heredity 122, no. 6 (June 2019): 864–76. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0170-2.
Feng, Chen, et al. “Genetic architecture of quantitative flower and leaf traits in a pair of sympatric sister species of Primulina.Heredity, vol. 122, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 864–76. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s41437-018-0170-2.

Published In

Heredity

DOI

EISSN

1365-2540

ISSN

0018-067X

Publication Date

June 2019

Volume

122

Issue

6

Start / End Page

864 / 876

Related Subject Headings

  • Sympatry
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Plant Leaves
  • Lamiales
  • Flowers
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Biological Evolution
  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology