Climate shapes plum tree gene activity more than dormancy itself
Herrera S, Hormaza JI, Ylla G, Rodrigo J, Lora J
Climate Adaptation
If you grow fruit trees, this explains why the same plum variety can bloom weeks apart depending on your region's winter chill, and why breeders may soon offer varieties tailored to warming winters.
Fruit trees like plums need a certain amount of winter cold before they can wake up and bloom in spring. Researchers compared two plum varieties grown in different climates and found that the local weather changed the trees' gene activity even more than the actual stage of winter dormancy did. In the warmer climate, the trees woke up about a month later but needed less cold overall, hinting that trees can adjust their chilling needs as climates shift.
Key Findings
Climate had a stronger effect on gene expression than dormancy stage itself across both plum cultivars tested
Dormancy phases occurred about one month later under Mediterranean subtropical conditions compared to semi-arid conditions
Key dormancy genes DAM, FT, and SAP1 showed climate-specific expression patterns, and chilling requirements dropped in the warmer climate
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found that where a plum tree grows matters more than its winter dormancy stage for turning genes on and off, and warmer climates make trees wake up later but need less cold to do it.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Dormancy dynamics in Japanese plum: transcriptomic responses to variable climatic conditions and chilling requirements.
Climate exerted a stronger influence than dormancy stage on gene expression in Japanese plum, revealing climate- and genotype-specific regulatory patterns underlying dormancy control and climate ad...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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