Evidence for parent-of-origin effects and interparental conflict in seeds of an ancient flowering plant lineage.

ABSTRACT: Theoretical and empirical studies have long connected the evolutionary innovation of endosperm, a genetically biparental product of a double fertilization process unique to flowering plants (angiosperms), to conflicting parental interests over offspring provisioning. Yet, none of these studies examined interparental conflict in representatives of any of the most ancient angiosperm lineages. We performed reciprocal interploidy crosses in the water lily Nymphaea thermarum, a member of one of the most ancient angiosperm lineages, Nymphaeales. We find that an excess of paternal genomes is associated with an increase in endosperm growth. By contrast, maternal ploidy negatively influences development or growth of all seed components, regardless of paternal genome dosage. Most relevant to

SUBMITTER: Povilus RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5829200 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature