ArticleBMC plant biology2025
Ecotypic divergence in Mongolian Scots pine persists via large-effect genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity.
Article in BMC plant biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding how ecotypic divergence persists under extensive gene flow is critical for predicting adaptive responses in long-lived conifers. Mongolian Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) occupies contrasting mountain and sandy-dune habitats in northeastern China, forming two ecotypes with distinct environmental adaptations. Using reference-free Specific Locus Amplified Fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) data and genome-wide SNPs, we explored patterns of genomic differentiation and genotype-environment associations to determine whether adaptive divergence is driven by few large-effect loci or polygenic shifts.
resultsDespite weak population structure, we identified ~ 3% of the genome as adaptive outliers with strong differentiation between ecotypes. These loci exhibited significant environmental associations indicating that both adaptive genomic islands and polygenic shifts are dominated by large-effect variants rather than minor-effect alleles. Furthermore, phenotypic differentiation between ecotypes reflected a dual mechanism: adaptive genetic divergence shaping hydraulic traits and mechanical support, and genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions enabling phenotypic plasticity in physiological responses, such as water-use efficiency and stress tolerance.
conclusionThe interplay between hard genetic adaptation and plasticity highlights how Mongolian Scots pine can simultaneously preserve ecotypic differentiation and respond flexibly to environmental heterogeneity. Importantly, such plasticity may provide a critical buffer against rapid climate change, allowing populations to persist despite ongoing gene flow and delayed genomic divergence. Our study highlights how divergent selection and plasticity together maintain ecotypic divergence in wind-pollinated pine variety with high gene flow and demonstrates a novel reference-free approach for dissecting adaptive architectures in non-model genomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.