Sexual modulation in a polyploid grass: a reproductive contest between environmentally inducible sexual and genetically dominant apomictic pathways.

ABSTRACT: In systems alternating between sexual and asexual reproduction, sex increases under unfavorable environmental conditions. In plants producing sexual and asexual (apomictic) seeds, studies on the influence of environmental factors on sex are equivocal. We used Paspalum intermedium to study environmental effects on the expression of sexual and apomictic developments, and on resulting reproductive fitness variables. Flow cytometric and embryological analyses were performed to characterize ploidy and reproductive modes, and effects of local climatic conditions on sexual and apomictic ovule and seed frequencies were determined. Seed set and germination data were collected and used to estimate reproductive fitness. Frequencies of sexual and apomictic ovules and seeds were highly variable within

SUBMITTER: Karunarathne P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7239852 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature