Considering that Arabidopsis individuals will grow under the same controlled conditions - same amount of water, same light intensity, same day length, etc.-, is it possible that there may be a lot of variation in the physiological responses of Arabidopsis when comparing measurements of e.g summer with those of winter? This when comparing measurements from two different seasons under the same exact conditions.
You meant that they are grown in a same controlled environment (such as in a growth chamber), but they are grown in different seasons (summer vs. winter)?
If you use the same batch of seeds to produce plants in summer, and after 6 months, in winter, the stored seeds might produce some plants with variation.
Fresh seeds and long-time stored seeds were used for comparison. Genetic and phenotypic variations were observed in the long-term stored seeds. This paper ("Phenotypic and genotypic changes in rapeseed after 18 years of storage and regeneration") documented that, although the seeds they used are much older.
Paper link: http://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/bioversity/publications/Web_version/243/ch11.htm
This is another paper (2013) that described the increased 'methylation' in the 'stored' seeds. Methylation (epigenetic) will affect gene expression, resulting in phenotypic variation.
**Paper title: Global Changes in DNA Methylation in Seeds and Seedlings of Pyrus communis after Seed Desiccation and Storage
Yes, I meant growing the plants in the same controlled conditions but during two different seasons. Thank you so much for your input. I am checking the references.
By the way, 'seasonal effect' was reported during plant tissue culture, including that it caused different regeneration frequency. They found out that increased frequencies of plant regeneration from January to March, reaching highest values in March/April and followed by a continuous and strong decrease from May to December. Please refer to this paper and the link below:
Title: "Seasonal effect on tissue culture response and plant regeneration frequency from non-bombarded and bombarded immature scutella of barley (Hordeum vulgare) harvested from controlled environment."
Link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11240-004-2617-9
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