Population transcriptomics uncovers the regulation of gene expression variation in adaptation to changing environment

Expression variation plays an important role in plant adaptation, but little is known about the factors impacting the expression variation when population adapts to changing environment. We used RNA-seq data from 80 individuals in 14 Miscanthus lutarioriparius populations, which were transplanted into a harsh environment from native habitat, to investigate the expression level, expression diversity and genetic diversity for genes expressed in both environments. The expression level of genes with lower expression level or without SNP tended to be more changeable in new environment, which suggested highly expressed genes experienced stronger purifying selection than those at lower level. Low proportion of genes with population effect confirmed the weak population structure and frequent gene flow in these populations. Meanwhile, the number of genes with environment effect was the most frequent compared with that with population effect. Our results showed that environment and genetic diversity were the main factors determining gene expression variation in population. This study could facilitate understanding the mechanisms of global gene expression variation when plant population adapts to changing environment.