Clinal variation in growth cessation and FTL2 expression in Siberian spruce

Abstract

Forest trees exhibit strong patterns of local adaptation in phenological traits along latitudinal gradients. Previous studies in spruce have shown that variation at genes from the photoperiodic pathway and the circadian clock are associated to these clines but it has been difficult to find solid evidence of selection for some of these genes. Here, we used growth cessation, gene expression, and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data at two major candidate loci, FLOWERING LOCUS T/TERMINAL FLOWER1-Like2 (FTL2) and GIGANTEA (GI), as well as at background loci from a latitudinal gradient in Siberian spruce (Picea obovata) populations along the Ob River to test for clinal variation in growth cessation and at the two candidate genes. As in previous studies, there was a strong latitudinal cline in growth cessation that was accompanied by a significant cline in the expression of FTL2. Expression of FTL2 was significantly associated with allele frequencies at some of the GI’s SNPs. However, the cline in allele frequency at candidate genes was not as steep as in a Norway spruce cline and in a parallel Siberian spruce cline studied previously and nonsignificant when a correction for population structure was applied. A McDonald-Kreitman test did not detect decisive evidence of selection on GI (p value = 0.07) and could not be applied to FTL2 because of limited polymorphism. Nonetheless, polymorphisms contributed more to the increased neutrality index of PoGI than to that of control loci. Finally, comparing the results of two previously published studies to our new dataset led to the identification of strong candidate SNPs for local adaptation in FTL2 promoter and GI.