Genetic diversity in candidate genes for drought stress. Photoperiod perception and cold tolerance along environmental gradients: evidence of climate-driven local adaptation in Nothofagus spp from Patagonia

SOLIANI, C; ESTRAVIS BARCALÁ, M.; TORALES, S.; POMPONIO, M.F.; ZIEGENHAGEN, B; ARANA ,MV; MARCHELLI, P

Firenze

Conferencia; IUFRO Tree Biotechnology 2015 Conference; 2015

Water availability, temperature and photoperiod are factors of outmost relevance for the modulation of growth and development of tree species in their natural habitats. In view of the possible consequences of climate change, the understanding of the genetic basis underlying the trees? response to these factors is highly relevant.In the Southern Hemisphere, temperate Patagonian forests are distributed along natural environmental gradients that might be imposing different selection pressures on the native flora. Temperature and photoperiod variations are mainly explained by latitude whereas precipitation regimes vary from west to east. Therefore, phenotypic variation in several plant traits is probably the consequence of divergent selection pressures along species´ distribution areas that might reflect local adaptation.The aim of this work was to characterize the genetic variation at candidate genes in populations of Nothofagus species distributed along natural environmental gradients in the Patagonian Andes. In order to unravel possible climate-driven adaptation we studied patterns of variation in nucleotide sequences of genes potentially associated to (1) drought stress responses in contrasting populations of Nothofagus nervosa and N. obliqua along the precipitation gradient and (2) temperature and photoperiod perception in populations of N. pumilio along its large latitudinal distribution.