Transcriptional differentiation of UV-B protectant genes in maize landraces spanning an elevational gradient in Chiapas, Mexico

Globally, farmers cultivate and maintain crop landraces (i.e., traditional varieties). Landraces contain unique diversity shaped in part by natural and human-mediated selection and are an indispensable resource to farmers. Since environmental conditions change with elevation, crop landraces grown along elevational gradients have provided ideal locations to explore patterns of local adaptation. To further probe traits underlying this differentiation, transcriptome signatures can help provide a foundation for understanding the ways in which functional genetic diversity may be shaped by environment. In this study, we returned to an elevational gradient in Chiapas, Mexico, to assess transcriptional differentiation of genes underlying UV-B protection in locally adapted maize landraces from multiple elevations. We collected and planted landraces from three elevational zones (lowland, approximately 600 m; midland, approximately 1,550 m; highland approximately 2,100 m) in a common garden at 1,5...