Authors:

Stephanie Tirado Rojas

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About Paper:

Although A. thaliana ecotypes obtained from Italy (IT) and Sweden (SW) have been well-studied and shown to be locally adapted, we still do not fully understand the genetic variation underlying these adaptations. We may expect regions of the genome responsible for local adaptation to be highly divergent between ecotypes. To investigate this, we identified divergent regions using whole genome sequence data to calculate average nucleotide divergence between populations (Dxy) along with population differentiation (FST) in non-overlapping windows. We identified regions of interest by locating the most highly divergent windows and overlaying them with known fitness QTL. Notably, we identified a peak of Dxy at the end of the first chromosome within a QTL associated with fitness variation in Italy. A large putative deletion in IT and high sequence divergence between ecotypes provides good candidates for future functional validation. Additionally, we implemented population genetic analyses to detect potential loci under selection in these same regions. Overall, these analyses aid in understanding the genetic basis of local adaptation in this system. Keywords: Arabidopsis; Adaptation; Genetics

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Stephanie Tirado Rojas