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Determining the scale at which variation in a single gene changes population yields.

Erica McGale1, Henrique Valim1, Deepika Mittal1

  • 1Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.

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Summary

Plant trait diversity affects population yield. A single gene, MPK4, influences overyielding at the population scale, independent of water-use efficiency, impacting plant interactions.

Keywords:
N. attenuataarbuscular mycorrhizal fungiecologyfieldmitogen-activated protein kinase 4plant biologyscalewater-use efficiency

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Genetics
  • Plant Biology

Background:

  • Plant trait diversity influences population yield, but the scale of this effect is not well understood.
  • Intraspecific interactions can modify individual and population performance, but the underlying genetic and ecological mechanisms are complex.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the scale at which plant trait variation, specifically water-use efficiency (WUE), affects intraspecific population yields.
  • To determine the genetic basis and interaction scale of overyielding in *Nicotiana attenuata*.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized *Nicotiana attenuata* plants with silenced mitogen-activated protein kinase 4 (irMPK4) to assess WUE and population yield.
  • Conducted field and glasshouse experiments, including paired-plant and micro-grafting studies.
  • Investigated the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) associations by silencing the Sym-pathway gene *NaCCaMK*.

Main Results:

  • Overyielding was observed in populations with low percentages of irMPK4 plants, independent of WUE phenotypes.
  • Neighbor-scale overyielding effects were excluded through paired-plant experiments.
  • Silencing *NaCCaMK* did not affect reproductive overyielding, suggesting an AMF-independent mechanism.
  • Micro-grafting revealed that shoot-expressed *MPK4* is crucial for yield variation in response to neighbor presence.

Conclusions:

  • Variation in the *MPK4* gene drives population overyielding in *Nicotiana attenuata*.
  • The mechanism is independent of the irMPK4 WUE phenotype and operates at the population scale, primarily through aboveground interactions.
  • Plant trait diversity, modulated by specific genes like *MPK4*, can significantly impact population-level outcomes.