REVIEW-ARTICLE |
Darwin's foundation for investigating self-incompatibility and the progress toward a physiological model for S-RNase-based SI
Division of Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Plant Group, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-7310, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mcclureb{at}missouri.edu
Charles Darwin made extensive observations of the pollination biology of a wide variety of plants. He carefully documented the consequences of self-pollination and described species that were self-sterile but that could easily be crossed with other plants of the same species. He believed that compatibility was controlled by the ‘mutual action’ of pollen and pistil contents. A genetic model for self-sterility was developed in the early 1900s based on studies of the compatibility relationships among, what are now referred to as, self-incompatible (SI) Nicotiana species. Today, it is believed that SI in these species is controlled by an interaction between S-RNases produced in the pistil and F-box proteins expressed in pollen and, moreover, that this S-RNase-based SI system is shared by a great diversity of other plant species. Current research is aimed at understanding how the mutual actions of these S-gene products function in the physiological context of pollen tube growth.
Key words: Darwin, self-incompatibility, SFB, SLF, S-RNase
Received 31 October 2008; Revised 20 January 2009 Accepted 22 January 2009
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