Contribution of epigenetic changes to adaptation in autopolyploids of southern South America: genus Hypochaeris (Asteraceae, Cichorieae)

In plants, polyploid formation could be an efficient means of quickly responding to changing environmental conditions. Recent research suggests that the molecular mechanism of rapid adaptation could be through epigenetic changes (e.g., DNA cytosine methylation) instead of in the doubling of the genome per se. This project is concerned with the adaptive advantages of autotetraploids over their diploid progenitors in a mixed ploidy population of the characteristic Patagonian aride steppe plant species Hypochaeris incana. Based on our previous research, we hypothesize that this plant has responded through tetraploid formation to increased aridity and temperature occurring in the Holocene. We want to test this hypothesis by measuring vegetative and reproductive fitness traits as well as plant assemblages accompanying diploid and tetraploid cytotypes as a surrogate for microhabitat requirements in a mixed ploidy population of H. incana in northern Patagonia. We will scan the epigenome and genome of the same plants, for which we will obtain fitness measurements, through methylation-sensitive MSAP and standard AFLP and expect to find a stronger correspondence of epiloci detected through the MSAP screening method with the cytotype. Measurements and preparation of data for publication will be jointly undertaken in the Instituto Darwinion in Argentina, lab work will be carried out in our molecular laboratory at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.