Célia Neto @celianeto.bsky.social · 14/01/2026We focused on traits likely shaped by Cape Verde’s short growing season and nutrient-poor volcanic soils: ⏱️ Flowering time 🍃 Rosette size 🌿 Photosystem II efficiency (ΦPSII) These traits connect directly to survival in a tough environment. 100
Célia Neto @celianeto.bsky.social · 14/01/2026We detected major functional variants: 🌼 FLC R3X and FRI K232X — strongly affecting flowering time 🧲 IRT1 G130X — influencing photosynthesis and plant size ➕ Evidence for epistasis Several of these variants are fixed on one island, so they had been elusive in previous mapping efforts. 110
Célia Neto @celianeto.bsky.social · 14/01/2026By recombining the two island lineages, we can now study adaptive alleles in a shared background and uncover their effects without the confounding structure of the natural populations. This gives us a clearer picture of how these populations adapted after colonizing Cape Verde. 100
