Non-reciprocal Interspecies Hybridization Barriers in the Capsella Genus Are Established in the Endosperm.

ABSTRACT: The transition to selfing in Capsella rubella accompanies its recent divergence from the ancestral outcrossing C. grandiflora species about 100,000 years ago. Whether the change in mating system was accompanied by the evolution of additional reproductive barriers that enforced species divergence remained unknown. Here, we show that C. rubella and C. grandiflora are reproductively separated by an endosperm-based, non-reciprocal postzygotic hybridization barrier. While hybridizations of C. rubella maternal plants with C. grandiflora pollen donors resulted in complete seed abortion caused by endosperm cellularization failure, the reciprocal hybridization resulted in the formation of small seeds with precociously cellularized endosperm. Strikingly, the transcriptomic response of both hybridiza

SUBMITTER: Rebernig CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4472357 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature