Summary Temperatures perceived early in the life cycle of mother plants can affect the germination of the offspring seeds. In Arabidopsis thaliana, vernalisation‐insensitive mutants showed altered germination response to elevated maternal temperature, hence revealing a strong genetic determinism. However, the genetic control of this maternal effect and its prevalence across natural populations remain unclear. Here, we exposed a collection of European accessions of A. thaliana to increased temperature during the vegetative phase and assessed germination in their progeny to identify the genetic basis of transgenerational germination response. We found that genotypes with rapidly germinating progeny after early maternal exposure to elevated temperature originated from regions with low‐light radiation. Combining genome‐wide association, expression analysis and functional assays across multiple genetic backgrounds, we show a central role for PHYB in mediating the response to maternally perceived temperature at the vegetative stage. Differential gene expression analysis in leaves identified a similar genetic network as previously found in seed endosperm under elevated temperature, supporting the pleiotropic involvement of PHYB signalling across different tissues and stages. This provides evidence that complex environmental responses modulated by the maternal genotype can rely on a consistent set of genes yet produce different effects at the different stages of exposure.

中文翻译：

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营养阶段感知到的温暖温度会影响拟南芥自然种质中子代种子的发芽


摘要 在母株生命周期的早期感知到的温度会影响后代种子的发芽。在拟南芥中，春化不敏感的突变体表现出对母体温度升高的发芽反应改变，因此揭示了强烈的遗传决定论。然而，这种母体效应的遗传控制及其在自然人群中的普遍性仍不清楚。在这里，我们将一系列欧洲拟南芥种质在营养期暴露在高温下，并评估了其后代的发芽情况，以确定跨代发芽反应的遗传基础。我们发现，在母体早期暴露于高温后代迅速发芽的基因型起源于弱光辐射区域。结合跨多个遗传背景的全基因组关联、表达分析和功能测定，我们展示了 PHYB 在介导营养人阶段对母体感知温度的反应中的核心作用。叶片中的差异基因表达分析确定了与先前在高温下种子胚乳中发现的相似的遗传网络，支持 PHYB 信号在不同组织和阶段的多效性参与。这提供了证据，证明由母体基因型调节的复杂环境反应可以依赖于一组一致的基因，但在暴露的不同阶段会产生不同的影响。