Plants May Have the Genetic Flexibility to Respond to Climate Change

(From Science Daily) Plants may have the genetic flexibility to respond to climate change. In experiments with the common European plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a team of researchers led by Brown University scientists learned that climate is the agent that determines the suite of genes that gives the plant the best chance of surviving and reproducing throughout its natural range. The finding may unlock the molecular basis for other plants’ adaptability to climate change. Results appear in Science.

In the face of climate change, animals have an advantage over plants: They can move. But a new study led by Brown University researchers shows that plants may have some tricks of their own.

In a paper published in Science, the research team identifies the genetic signature in the common European plant Arabidopsis thaliana that governs the plant’s fitness — its ability to survive and reproduce — in different climates. The researchers further find that climate in large measure influences the suite of genes passed on to Arabidopsis to optimize its survival and reproduction. The set of genes determining fitness varies, the team reports, depending on the climate conditions in the plant’s region — cold, warm, dry, wet, or otherwise.

“This is the first study to show evolutionary adaptation for Arabidopsis thaliana on a broad geographical scale and to link it to molecular underpinnings,” said Johanna Schmitt, director of the Environmental Change Initiative at Brown and an author on the paper. “Climate is the selective agent.”

Read more here: Plants May Have the Genetic Flexibility to Respond to Climate Change