The Late Quaternary climate impact on the genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), a perennial herb

Genomes record past climatic impact on species' range shifts, admixture, refugial isolation, and adaptative evolution. However, these processes are poorly understood in perennial herbaceous species forming a dominant group of temperate flora. We present a demographic history of the perennial herb woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.) reconstructed from 200 genomes spanning most of its European range. Temporal population structure reveals a strong division into western and eastern genetic clusters along a longitudinal climatic gradient, with eastern core populations showing greater resilience during glaciations. Divergence patterns indicate that postglacial recolonization of western and eastern Europe occurred from distinct refugia in multiple waves. The current largest, admixed populations from the Mediterranean to northern Europe form a continuous chain maintained by east-west gene flow through Central Europe, with historical migration patterns indicating comparable connections during earlier interglacials. Our reconstruction of woodland strawberry's climatic history with high temporal resolution reveals how the late Pleistocene core-periphery dynamics shaped its survival and genome evolution under climate change. The data points to populations that are essential for maintaining the long term genetic diversity of the species and opens new avenues to understand climatic adaptation of temperate flora.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Biology
Published
2026-01-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09539-5
Primary Topic
Genetic diversity and population structure
Type
article
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article

The Late Quaternary climate impact on the genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), a perennial herb

Petri Auvinen, Tuomas Toivainen, David Posé, Henry Väre et al.
Communications Biology
Genetic diversity and population structure
article

The Late Quaternary climate impact on the genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), a perennial herb

Petri Auvinen, Tuomas Toivainen, David Posé, Henry Väre, Jarkko Salojärvi, Hrannar Smári Hilmarsson, Timo Hytönen, Klaus Olbricht, Boris Duralija, Juozas Labokas, Jón Hallsteinn Hallsson, Annina Lyyski, Sergei Lembinen, Hanne De Kort, Johan A. Stenberg, Victor A. Albert, José F. Sánchez-Sevilla, Patrick P. Edger, Jonathan Kirshner, J. Sakari Salonen, Laura Jaakola, Daniel J. Sargent
article en

Abstract

Genomes record past climatic impact on species' range shifts, admixture, refugial isolation, and adaptative evolution. However, these processes are poorly understood in perennial herbaceous species forming a dominant group of temperate flora. We present a demographic history of the perennial herb woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.) reconstructed from 200 genomes spanning most of its European range. Temporal population structure reveals a strong division into western and eastern genetic clusters along a longitudinal climatic gradient, with eastern core populations showing greater resilience during glaciations. Divergence patterns indicate that postglacial recolonization of western and eastern Europe occurred from distinct refugia in multiple waves. The current largest, admixed populations from the Mediterranean to northern Europe form a continuous chain maintained by east-west gene flow through Central Europe, with historical migration patterns indicating comparable connections during earlier interglacials. Our reconstruction of woodland strawberry's climatic history with high temporal resolution reveals how the late Pleistocene core-periphery dynamics shaped its survival and genome evolution under climate change. The data points to populations that are essential for maintaining the long term genetic diversity of the species and opens new avenues to understand climatic adaptation of temperate flora.

Communications BiologyVol. 9(1)
Agricultural University of Iceland (IS), University of Helsinki (FI), National Institute of Agricultural Botany (GB), University of Iceland (IS), Nanyang Technological University (SG), Vilnius University (LT), University of Zagreb (HR), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (ES), Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea "La Mayora" (ES), Finnish Museum of Natural History (FI), Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SG), Institute of Botany (CN), Institute of Botany (AM), University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), Michigan State University (US), KU Leuven (BE)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 88%
Genetic diversity and population structure
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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