How and When Does Outcrossing Occur in the Predominantly Selfing Species Medicago truncatula?

ABSTRACT: Empirical studies on natural populations of Medicago truncatula revealed selfing rates higher than 80%, but never up to 100%. Similarly, several studies of predominantly selfing species show variability in the level of residual outcrossing between populations and also between temporal samples of the same population. However, these studies measure global selfing rates at the scale of the population and we do not know whether there is intra-population variation and how outcrossing events are distributed, between genotypes, plants, flowers, or seeds. Theoretical studies predict the maintenance of residual outcrossing in highly selfing species due to environmental (e.g., pollen biology) and/or genetic determinants and decompositions of the variation in outcrossing rate using experimenta

SUBMITTER: Jullien M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7925993 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature