Fig 1.
Schematic representation of a kelp life cycle.
The sexual cycle consists of an alternation between a macroscopic diploid sporophyte and microscopic, haploid, dioicous (male and female) gametophytes. The zoospores produced by the sporophyte are released and develop as male (carrying the V sex chromosome) or female (carrying the U sex chromosome) gametophytes. Egg and sperm produced by the gametophyte fuse to return to the diploid, asexual sporophyte generation, which carries both the U and the V sex chromosomes.
Table 1.
Origins of the kelp gametophyte clones used in this study.
Table 2.
Primer information and PCR conditions for the sex-specific marker tests carried out on the three Laminariales species L. digitata, M. pyrifera and U. pinnatifida.
Fig 2.
Electrophoresis pattern of products amplified in male and female gametophytes of three kelp species.
(A) L. digitata. Male marker: M_68_16_1; Female marker: M_68_58_3; PAR gene amplification M_248_8_1 (B) U. pinnatifida. Male marker: M_68_16_2; Female marker: M_285_20_2; PAR gene amplification M_285_26_1 (C) M. pyrifera. Male marker: M_68_58_1; Female marker: M_68_58_2; PAR gene amplification M_357_3_1. M, male gametophyte; F, female gametophyte. Note that in M. pyrifera, M_68_58_1 amplified products of different sizes from male and female M. pyrifera individuals.
Fig 3.
A) Electrophoresis pattern of sex marker products amplified in six diploid sporophytes of L. digitata. M: male marker (M_68_16_1); F: female marker (M_68_58_3). B) Electrophoresis pattern of sex marker products amplified in a diploid sporophyte and female partheno-sporophyte of Undaria pinnatifida. M: male marker (M_68_16_2), F: female marker (M_285_20_2), PAR gene (M_285_26_1); SP: sporophyte, pSP: partheno-sporophyte.