Flowering time in wild beet ( Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima) along a latitudinal cline

Abstract

The wild beet ( Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima, a perennial species from the Mediterranean and the European Atlantic coasts) shows marked variation in flowering time in terms of both the year of first flowering and flowering date in a given year. Much of this variability is related to latitude. Beta vulgaris plants flower either in the same year as they germinate or in their second year. This is mainly due to differences in their requirement for vernalization, which is determined by a single gene B/b and by quantitative trait loci. The more southern the origin of the plants, the less vernalization is required. Also the B allele, which cancels vernalization requirement completely, has a high frequency in the Mediterranean region, but is completely absent in the northern part of the distribution of this species. We found that flowering date variation in relation to the latitude of origin is maintained under greenhouse conditions but does not follow a simple clinal relationship. From the Mediterranean northwards to the west coast of Brittany, flowering occurs progressively earlier, but from Brittany northwards to south-east England and The Netherlands it is progressively later. A possible explanation for this difference is that in the southern part of the range sensitivity to daylength and warmth control flowering time, whereas further north vernalization requirement is also a key factor. A substantial part of all differences in flowering time was heritable: heritability within populations was measured as 0.33 under greenhouse conditions. The high heritability implies evolutionary change may occur in this character.