Genetic canalization of nutrient resorption in the widespread grass Phragmites australis under salt stress.
4 affiliations
- 1Key Laboratory of Ecological Prewarning, Protection and Restoration of Bohai Sea, Ministry of Natural Resources, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, China.
- 2National Natural History Museum of China, Beijing, China.
- 3Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, No.1 Dongxiaofu, Xiangshan Road, Haidian district, Beijing, China.
- 4School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, United States.
Abstract
Nutrient resorption is a key plant strategy for nutrient conservation, yet whether it responds plastically to non-nutrient stressors such as salinity remains unresolved. Using a common garden experiment with 110 genotypes of the cosmopolitan grass Phragmites australis, we first established that the imposed salinity treatment induced strong multilevel stress responses: above-ground biomass declined by >60%, sodium accumulated three- to fivefold across all leaf stages, and 484 metabolites showed significant differential accumulation, including canonical markers of osmotic and oxidative stress. Against this backdrop of confirmed stress, we found that nutrient resorption efficiency (NuRE) remained largely unaffected by salinity. Instead, NuRE was strongly correlated with phylogeographic lineage, ecotype, and latitude of origin, demonstrating evolutionary canalization rather than short-term acclimation. Element-specific regulatory patterns were also evident: while phosphorus resorption followed concentration-dependent control regardless of stress, nitrogen control was disrupted under salinity, and potassium resorption showed no such dependence. Our findings reveal that intraspecific variation in nutrient resorption is predominantly shaped by historical adaptation and geographic context, not by plasticity to salinity. This genetic canalization of a key functional trait implies that predictions of nutrient cycling under global change must account for the phylogeographic composition of plant populations.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{liu2026genetic,
title = {{Genetic canalization of nutrient resorption in the widespread grass Phragmites australis under salt stress.}},
author = {Lele Liu and Wenyi Sheng and Huijia Song and Cui Wang and Na Li and Lele Lin and Yaolin Guo and Ning Du and Weihua Guo},
journal = {ELife},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.7554/elife.111792},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42929891},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genetic canalization of nutrient resorption in the widespread grass Phragmites australis under salt stress.
AU - Lele Liu
AU - Wenyi Sheng
AU - Huijia Song
AU - Cui Wang
AU - Na Li
AU - Lele Lin
AU - Yaolin Guo
AU - Ning Du
AU - Weihua Guo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - ELife
DO - 10.7554/elife.111792
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42929891
AB - Nutrient resorption is a key plant strategy for nutrient conservation, yet whether it responds plastically to non-nutrient stressors such as salinity remains unresolved. Using a common garden experiment with 110 genotypes of the cosmopolitan grass Phragmites australis, we first established that the imposed salinity treatment induced strong multilevel stress responses: above-ground biomass declined by >60%, sodium accumulated three- to fivefold across all leaf stages, and 484 metabolites showed significant differential accumulation, including canonical markers of osmotic and oxidative stress. Against this backdrop of confirmed stress, we found that nutrient resorption efficiency (NuRE) remained largely unaffected by salinity. Instead, NuRE was strongly correlated with phylogeographic lineage, ecotype, and latitude of origin, demonstrating evolutionary canalization rather than short-term acclimation. Element-specific regulatory patterns were also evident: while phosphorus resorption followed concentration-dependent control regardless of stress, nitrogen control was disrupted under salinity, and potassium resorption showed no such dependence. Our findings reveal that intraspecific variation in nutrient resorption is predominantly shaped by historical adaptation and geographic context, not by plasticity to salinity. This genetic canalization of a key functional trait implies that predictions of nutrient cycling under global change must account for the phylogeographic composition of plant populations.
SN - 2050-084X
ER -