Figures
The flower of Leavenworthia alabamica (Brassicaceae)
Many flowering plants avoid the problem of self-fertilization through systems of self-incompatibility, which allow plants to recognize and reject their own pollen. Self-pollen recognition was first described in the Brassicaceae, and has been identified in all members of this plant family studied to date. It is based on a gene that produces a receptor protein, the S-locus receptor kinase (SRK) gene, and a gene that produces a pollen protein, the S-locus cysteine-rich (SCR) gene. SRK and SCR were lost in the evolutionary lineage leading to Leavenworthia. In Leavenworthia, self-pollen recognition is based on a different receptor kinase gene and on an SCR-like gene, a finding that challenges the notion that the loss of self-pollen recognition is irreversible. See Chantha et al. (e1001560) in this issue.
Image Credit: Dr. Jeremiah Busch
Citation: (2013) PLOS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 11(5) May 2013. PLOS Biol 11(5): ev11.i05. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v11.i05
Published: May 28, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Busch. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Many flowering plants avoid the problem of self-fertilization through systems of self-incompatibility, which allow plants to recognize and reject their own pollen. Self-pollen recognition was first described in the Brassicaceae, and has been identified in all members of this plant family studied to date. It is based on a gene that produces a receptor protein, the S-locus receptor kinase (SRK) gene, and a gene that produces a pollen protein, the S-locus cysteine-rich (SCR) gene. SRK and SCR were lost in the evolutionary lineage leading to Leavenworthia. In Leavenworthia, self-pollen recognition is based on a different receptor kinase gene and on an SCR-like gene, a finding that challenges the notion that the loss of self-pollen recognition is irreversible. See Chantha et al. (e1001560) in this issue.
Image Credit: Dr. Jeremiah Busch