Maintenance of mixed mating after the loss of self-incompatibility in a long-lived perennial herb.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Many hermaphroditic plants avoid self-fertilization by means of a molecular self-incompatibility (SI) system, a complex trait that is difficult to evolve but relatively easy to lose. Loss of SI is a prerequisite for an evolutionary transition from obligate outcrossing to self-fertilization, which may bring about rapid changes in the genetic diversity and structure of populations. Loss of SI is also often followed by the evolution of a 'selfing syndrome', with plants having small flowers, little nectar and few pollen grains per ovule. Here, we document the loss of SI in the long-lived Spanish toadflax Linaria cavanillesii, which has led to mixed mating rather than a transition to a high rate of selfing and in which an outcrossing syndrome has been maintained.

SUBMITTER: Voillemot M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5218368 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature