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Maternal environmental effects of competition influence evolutionary potential in rapeseed (Brassica rapa)

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Abstract

Maternal environmental effects reflect the contribution of the maternal environment to the offspring phenotype. Maternal effects are prevalent in plants and animals and may undergo adaptive evolution and affect patterns of natural selection within and across generations. Here, we raise two generations of a rapeseed (Brassica rapa) population derived from a cross between a rapid-cycling and an oilseed genotype in competitive and noncompetitive settings. Maternal environment had little effect on average offspring phenotypes. Maternal genotypes, however, differed in the sensitivity of almost all offspring phenotypes to the maternal environment, demonstrating genetic variation in maternal effects for traits expressed throughout ontogeny. Maternal environment did not significantly affect progeny seed production, and maternal genotypes were not variable for this trait, indicating no evidence for direct maternal effects on offspring fitness. Maternal environment influenced natural selection in the progeny generation; disruptive selection acted on seed mass among seeds matured in the noncompetitive maternal environment versus no significant selection on this trait for seeds matured in the competitive maternal environment. Although maternal effects did not directly increase fitness, they did affect evolutionary potential and selection in the progeny generation. These results suggest that diverse phenotypes of both wild and cultivated B. rapa genotypes will depend on the maternal environment in which the seeds are matured.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Johnston for the experimental design of the maternal generation and J. Stringer, K. Krueger, and K. Dorn for assistance in data collection and plant processing. We are also grateful to M. McClellan of the UMN Agricultural Experiment Station and P. Warnke and staff of the UMN Horticultural Greenhouses. This work was supported by NSF grant IOS-0923752 to CW.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, USA

    Jennifer M. Dechaine

  2. Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Marcus T. Brock & Cynthia Weinig

  3. Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Cynthia Weinig

  4. Department of Molecular Biology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Cynthia Weinig

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  1. Jennifer M. Dechaine
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  2. Marcus T. Brock
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  3. Cynthia Weinig
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Correspondence to Jennifer M. Dechaine.

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Dechaine, J.M., Brock, M.T. & Weinig, C. Maternal environmental effects of competition influence evolutionary potential in rapeseed (Brassica rapa). Evol Ecol 29, 77–91 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9735-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9735-6

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