Biotech Updates

Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation

December 11, 2013

Scientists from Michigan State University (MSU) and collaborators from Colorado State University and Uppsala University, Sweden have found that plant adaptation to different environments involves tradeoffs in performance. MSU plant biologist Douglas Schemske and Jon Agren from Uppsala University led the 5-year study that focused on Arabidopsis plant populations in Sweden and Italy.

The scientists observed that in direct competition, the home plants outperformed their visitors, supporting the notion that home populations are adapted to their local conditions. The long-held view they dispelled, however, was that it takes many genes to fuel the adaptations that allow plants to thrive in different climates. "Even though the environments of Sweden and Italy are vastly different, we found that only 15 regions of the plant's genome are involved in adaptation," Schemske said.

Read more about this study at: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2013/home-teams-hold-the-advantage/.