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MBE Advance Access published online on November 20, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm257
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

Natural variation in Arabidopsis lyrata vernalization requirement conferred by a FRIGIDA indel polymorphism

Helmi Kuittinen, Anne Niittyvuopio, Paula Rinne and Outi Savolainen

Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Finland

Correspondence should be addressed to Helmi Kuittinen, P.O.Box 3000 Dept. Biology, 90014 Univ. Oulu, Finland, tel. 358-(0)8-5531803., fax 358-(0)8-5531061, helmi.kuittinen{at}oulu.fi

Received for publication August 23, 2007. Revision received November 14, 2007. Accepted for publication November 17, 2007.

Species share homologous genes to a large extent, but it is not yet known to what degree the same loci have been targets for natural selection in different species. Natural variation in flowering time is determined to a large degree by two genes, FLOWERING LOCUS C and FRIGIDA, in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we examine whether FRIGIDA has a role in differences in flowering time between and within natural populations of Arabidopsis lyrata, a close outcrossing perennial relative of A. thaliana. We found two FRIGIDA sequence variants producing potentially functional proteins but with a length difference of 14 amino acids. These variants conferred a 15 day difference in flowering time in an association experiment in two Scandinavian populations. The difference in flowering time between alleles was confirmed with transformation to A. thaliana. Because the north European late flowering populations harbour both late and early sequence variants at intermediate frequencies and in the southern early flowering European population, the late flowering variant is most frequent other genetic factors must be responsible for the flowering time differences between the populations. The length polymorphism occurs at high frequencies also in several North American populations. The occurrence of functional variants at intermediate frequencies in several populations suggests that the variation may be maintained by balancing selection. This is in contrast to A. thaliana, where independent loss of function mutations at the FRIGIDA gene are responsible for differences between populations and local adaptation.

Key Words: Arabidopsis lyrata • flowering time • FRIGIDA • natural variation • adaptation • outcrossing


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