Abstract Detail

Crops and Wild Relatives

Herron, Sterling A [1], Rubin, Matthew [2], Miller, Allison [3].

Lifespan-associated seed and early growth trait patterns in Lathyrus, Phaseolus, and Vicia (Fabaceae).

Life history strategy in plants involves suites of phenological and resource allocation decisions which govern future evolutionary trajectories and can shed light on past adaptive drivers. Annuals and perennials represent two broad life history classes that are traditionally differentiated by their growth rate and reproductive vs. storage allocation. However, many angiosperm lineages of closely related annual and perennial species remain uncharacterized for traits of ecological and agronomic interest. Here we use a congeneric comparative framework to understand lifespan-associated differences in annual and perennial wild species of the important crop genera Lathyrus, Phaseolus, and Vicia (Fabaceae). We measured 5,800 seeds for size (area and weight) and shape, 4,000 seeds for germination, and 1,300 seedlings for growth rate traits across 83 accessions of 29 annual and perennial species. Among the genera, we found that seed circularity was consistently higher in perennials and that germination rate, growth rate, and plant height were consistently higher in annuals. However, average seed size was largely similar for annuals and perennials of each genus. We detected a significant lifespan effect for several of the traits which differed, but also significant genus and species effects, highlighting phylogenetic and environmental nuances in the data. We found genus-specific patterns of covariation within and among seed and vegetative traits, where positive correlations between seed size and vegetative traits were more common in Lathyrus and Vicia compared to Phaseolus. Overall, our findings are similar to previous studies in other Angiosperm systems on lifespan-associated trait differentiation, while also elucidating differences in new traits and highlighting promising areas of further research. Understanding lifespan-driven trait differentiation and covariation will be critical in understanding the role of life history in ecological processes and in plant breeding of new species.

1 - Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Allison Miller Lab, 975 N Warson Road, Saint Louis, MO, 63132, United States
2 - Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 North Warson Road, Miller Lab, St. Louis, MO, 63132, United States
3 - Saint Louis Univ./Danforth Plant Science Center, Biology, 3507 Laclede Avenue, Macelwane Hall, St. Louis, MO, 63110, United States

Keywords:
life history
lifespan
trait correlation
seed size
legume
Leguminosae
annual
perennial.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: CWR1, Crops and Wild Relatives
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2020
Time: 3:30 PM
Number: CWR1003
Abstract ID:705
Candidate for Awards:None