First published online July 2, 2009; 10.1105/tpc.109.068114
The Plant Cell 21:1877-1896 (2009)
© 2009 American Society of Plant Biologists
What Has Natural Variation Taught Us about Plant Development, Physiology, and Adaptation?
Carlos Alonso-Blancoa,
Mark G.M. Aartsb,
Leonie Bentsinkc,
Joost J.B. Keurentjesb,d,e,
Matthieu Reymondf,
Dick Vreugdenhild,e and
Maarten Koornneefb,f,1
a Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Departamento de Genética Molecular de Plantas, Cantoblanco 28049 Madrid, Spain
b Laboratory of Genetics, Wageningen University, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands
c Molecular Plant Physiology Group, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands
d Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, 6700 AR, Wageningen, The Netherlands
e Centre for Biosystems Genomics, 6708 PB Wageningen,The Netherlands
f Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, 50829 Cologne, Germany
1 Address correspondence to maarten.koornneef{at}wur.nl.
ABSTRACT
Nearly 100 genes and functional polymorphisms underlying natural variation in plant development and physiology have been identified. In crop plants, these include genes involved in domestication traits, such as those related to plant architecture, fruit and seed structure and morphology, as well as yield and quality traits improved by subsequent crop breeding. In wild plants, comparable traits have been dissected mainly in Arabidopsis thaliana. In this review, we discuss the major contributions of the analysis of natural variation to our understanding of plant development and physiology, focusing in particular on the timing of germination and flowering, plant growth and morphology, primary metabolism, and mineral accumulation. Overall, functional polymorphisms appear in all types of genes and gene regions, and they may have multiple mutational causes. However, understanding this diversity in relation to adaptation and environmental variation is a challenge for which tools are now available.
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