Disruption of endosperm development is a major cause of hybrid seed inviability between Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus nudatus.

ABSTRACT: Divergence of developmental mechanisms within populations could lead to hybrid developmental failure, and might be a factor driving speciation in angiosperms. We investigate patterns of endosperm and embryo development in Mimulus guttatus and the closely related, serpentine endemic Mimulus nudatus, and compare them to those of reciprocal hybrid seed. We address whether disruption in hybrid seed development is the primary source of reproductive isolation between these sympatric taxa. M. guttatus and M. nudatus differ in the pattern and timing of endosperm and embryo development. Some hybrid seeds exhibit early disruption of endosperm development and are completely inviable, while others develop relatively normally at first, but later exhibit impaired endosperm proliferation and low germinat

SUBMITTER: Oneal E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4833662 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature