The Molecular Basis of Adaptation to Climatic Factors and Range Change in Plants

Abstract

Plant adaptations to past and ongoing climate change have defined the environmental range that species can occupy. They often leave footprints in the genome, which together with studies of quantitative genetic variation, have revealed the diverse molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive responses to climatic factors. Notably, major mutations in molecular pathways governing life-history traits play a key role in shaping plant ecological strategies for local adaptation. While cases of convergent evolution and parallel use of shared variants have been documented, no single molecular pathway dominates the process of adaptation. The crucial factors that determine adaptation to climate factors are the availability of standing genetic variation, the mutational target size of traits under selection, and the population-level processes that promote adaptive changes. To conclude, we stress the need for a better understanding of candidate molecular functions for adaptation and for advances in our knowledge of the ecological drivers that shape diversification at local scales.