Meeting Abstract
While ecological genetics approaches have informed us about the structure of genetic diversity in natural populations, we still know surprisingly little about the mechanisms that permit organisms to adapt to variable environmental conditions. Using MS-AFLP, our previous work showed a weak, but significant correlation of epigenetic variation with habitat in the salt marsh foundation plant Spartina alterniflora. In this study, we used the more powerful genomics approach of epigenotyping-by-sequencing (epiGBS) to examine differential methylation polymorphisms (DMPs) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to investigate genetic and epigenetic diversity in natural populations across salinity gradients, and from a reciprocal transplant study of S. alterniflora. In addition, we used sequencing of the ribosomal ITS region to identify variation in fungal endophyte communities, which may be particularly beneficial under stressful environmental conditions. We will present DMPs and SNPs, and associated candidate genes that are correlated with trait response, environmental gradients and symbiotic relationships in this critical coastal species.
