In a rapidly changing climate, plants face distinct environmental challenges compared to those experienced by their ancestors in recent evolutionary history. One way in which plants respond to these changes is through environmentally induced changes in phenotype [1,2]. Plant species can adjust to these new conditions through phenotypic plasticity, adapt through natural selection, or disperse and establish in areas with conditions similar to those where they are adapted, and these options are not mutually exclusive [3,4].

Understanding how plants respond to environmental changes is essential for understanding the processes of plant adaptation and speciation. Altitude gradients are particularly intriguing due to their pronounced changes in various physical environmental characteristics, such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, sunlight hours, ultraviolet radiation, wind, season duration, and geology [[5], [6], [7], [8]]. Altitude gradients present challenges for successful plant adaptation. As altitude increases, it is observed that certain plant species are replaced by others, giving rise to different vegetation types. Some species are restricted to a specific area, while others grow across a wide range of altitudes, adapting to particular conditions through phenotypic plasticity and genetic modification [[9], [10], [11]].

Plant populations occurring along an altitudinal gradient can vary in their morpho-anatomical and physiological characteristics [7,12]. While physiological variations occurring in plants with increasing altitude are well described [7,[13], [14], [15], [16]], the underlying processes leading to these phenotypic variations are not clearly understood. The continuous challenge lies in identifying the molecular pathways and genes of adaptive significance in this context. Our understanding remains incomplete regarding the specific genes and proteins intricately involved in the local adaptation of diverse populations within tropical species. Consequently, the translation of genetic variations into phenotypic adaptations across varied tropical environments still contains information gaps.

In populations inhabiting contrasting environments, variations in protein expression and morphophysiological characteristics are anticipated [17,18]. Due to these contrasting conditions, it remains unclear whether these variations are genetically fixed within populations or environmentally induced. Common garden experiments can be useful for understanding local adaptation by enabling the assessment of the relative importance of plastic and molecular responses within the same species [19].

The common garden experiment is an approach that allows investigating the ecology and evolutionary biology of adaptation [20]. In common garden experiments, populations originating from contrasting environments are cultivated under controlled conditions [21]. By subjecting individuals from different environments to the same growth conditions, it becomes possible to disentangle genetic and environmental influences on trait expression. This approach enables the assessment of whether observed trait differences persist even when environmental factors are held constant, providing insights into the degree of genetic determination of these characteristics. If genotypic effects are present, they potentially indicate local adaptation [22]. Furthermore, common garden experiments provide a foundation for understanding the potential for population divergence and speciation in response to environmental heterogeneity [23].

Proteomics can significantly contribute to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involved in species adaptation to diverse environments [[24], [25], [26], [27]]. A comprehensive understanding of how proteins are regulated in species with a wide distribution range holds the potential to provide valuable insights into the impact of environmental changes on organisms, the evolutionary processes shaping proteins over time, and the strategies employed by organisms to adapt to their specific environmental conditions.

Myrsine coriacea is an angiosperm with a broad capacity to inhabit different environments [28], exhibiting substantial phenotypic variation [[29], [30], [31]]. In the Atlantic Forest, the species can be found from coastal ecosystems to high-altitude Campos [31]. The genetic [32], morphological, and physiological [17] diversity in populations distributed across an altitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest seems to indicate high phenotypic plasticity, considering the demonstrated capacity of these plants to acclimate to diverse environmental conditions. A better understanding of the influence of the relative roles of genetic and environmental factors on phenotypic variation in M. coriacea helps to understand the potentially adaptive phenotypic variation in plants in nature and the adaptive and survival strategies of populations.

In this study, we subjected plants germinated from M. coriacea seeds originating from natural populations distributed across an altitudinal gradient to common garden conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate differences in protein accumulation and physiological responses of M. coriacea, and to assess whether these differences are genetically fixed. Our findings provide new insights regarding the molecular mechanisms involved in the local adaptation of different populations of M. coriacea.