Diversity Patterns of Bermuda Grass along Latitudinal Gradients at Different Temperatures in Southeastern China

Abstract

Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (common Bermuda grass) has a limited capacity to grow at low temperatures, which limits its geographical range. Exploring its evolutionary relationship across different environmental gradients is necessary to understand the effects of temperature change on the genetics of common Bermuda grass. In this study, high-throughput transcriptome sequencing was performed on 137 samples of C. dactylon from 16 latitudinal gradients to explore the differential molecular markers and analyze genetic diversity and structure along latitudinal gradients at different temperatures. We primarily sampled more high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from populations at lower and middle latitudes. Greater intraspecific genetic variation at each level of temperature treatment could be due to factors such as wind pollination and asexual breeding. Populations of C. dactylon at high latitudes differed from populations at middle and low latitudes, which was supported by a principal component analysis (PCA) and genetic structure analysis, performed at different temperatures. We observed more genetic variation for low-latitude populations at 5 °C, according to an analysis of three phylogenetic trees at different temperature levels, suggesting that low temperatures affected samples with low cold resistance. Based on the results of phylogenetic analysis, we found that samples from high latitudes evolved earlier than most samples at low latitudes. The results provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary phenomenon of landscape genetics, laying the groundwork for future structural and comparative genomic studies of C. dactylon.

Herbage accumulation, nutritive value, and fatty acid profile of bermudagrass cultivars grown in different latitudes

“…Plants that do not demonstrate thermal acclimation produce membrane fatty acid profiles with greater saturated: unsaturated fatty acid ratios, whereas plants that show thermal acclimation produce membrane fatty acid profiles with greater unsaturated: saturated fatty acid profiles. Greater concentrations of C16:1n7, C18:1n9t, C18:2n6, C18:3n3, and C20:5n3 in Marianna corroborated with Fontanier et al (2020), Hu et al (2017), Zhang et al (2020), and Zamanian et al, 2021 that also observed greater unsaturated fatty acid concentrations in bermudagrass grown under cold stress conditions.…”

“…is a productive warm‐season perennial grass cultivated in more than 9 million hectares in the US (Ximenes et al, 2008). The bermudagrass adaptation zone ranges from latitude 45° N to 45° S with superior herbage accumulation (HA) and nutritive value during the warm season (Zhang et al, 2020). Vendramini et al (2021) compared different cultivars of bermudagrass in Ona‐FL and concluded that Mislevy had similar total HA to Jiggs (~14,500 kg DM ha −1 ) and greater HA than Tifton 44 (13,100 kg DM ha −1 ), Tifton 85 (13,800 kg DM ha −1 ), and Coastal (8400 kg DM ha −1 ) during the experimental period from March to October.…”

Pattern of Adaptive Divergence in Zingiber kawagoii Hayata (Zingiberaceae) along a Narrow Latitudinal Range

“…Adaptive divergence associated with thermal plasticity has been observed in natural populations of Plantago lanceolata [ 63 ] and Cynodon dactylon [ 64 ] along large-scale latitudinal gradients. However, a study finding annual thermal plasticity associated with population adaptive divergence along small-scale latitudinal gradients, to our knowledge, has not been documented.…”

A Novel Beta-Glucosidase Gene for Plant Type Was Identified by Genome-Wide Association Study and Gene Co-Expression Analysis in Widespread Bermudagrass

“…Our previous studies have investigated the morphological diversity of a vast collection of bermudagrass. The collection is enriched by China, particularly subtropical and mesothermal zones, representing a wealth of local genetic resources that might be exploited in future conservation and breeding studies [ 3 , 23 ]. However, it was challenging and limited to study the regulatory mechanisms of bermudagrass plant type regulation without the genome information before the disclosure of the African bermudagrass genome sequence in August 2021 [ 7 ].…”