Unraveling the development behind unisexual flowers in Cylindropuntia wolfii (Cactaceae).
Cylindropuntia wolfii
Dioecy
Pollen viability
Unisexual floral development
Journal
BMC plant biology
ISSN: 1471-2229
Titre abrégé: BMC Plant Biol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 100967807
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
02 Mar 2022
02 Mar 2022
Historique:
received:
28
08
2021
accepted:
07
01
2022
entrez:
3
3
2022
pubmed:
4
3
2022
medline:
18
3
2022
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
In certain unisexual flowers, non-functional sexual organs remain vestigial and unisexuality can be overlooked leading to the ambiguous description of the sexual systems. Therefore, to accurately describe the sexual system, detailed morphological and developmental analyses along with experimental crosses must be performed. Cylindropuntia wolfii is a rare cactus endemic to the Sonoran Desert in southern California and northern Baja California that was described as gynodioecious by morphological analysis. The aims of our project include accurately identifying the sexual system of C. wolfii using histological and functional studies and characterizing the developmental mechanisms that underlie its floral development. Histological analyses were carried out on different stages of C. wolfii flowers and controlled crosses were performed in the field. Our results identified C. wolfii to be functionally dioecious. The ovule and anther development differed between staminate and pistillate flowers. In vivo pollen germination tests showed that the pollen of staminate and pistillate flowers were viable and the stigma and style of both staminate and pistillate flowers were receptive. This suggests that there are no genetic or developmental barriers in the earlier stages of pollen recognition and pollen germination. Despite being functionally dioecious, we observed that functionally pistillate individuals produced fruits with a large number of aborted seeds. This implies that not only does this species have low reproductive success, but its small population sizes may lead to low genetic diversity.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
In certain unisexual flowers, non-functional sexual organs remain vestigial and unisexuality can be overlooked leading to the ambiguous description of the sexual systems. Therefore, to accurately describe the sexual system, detailed morphological and developmental analyses along with experimental crosses must be performed. Cylindropuntia wolfii is a rare cactus endemic to the Sonoran Desert in southern California and northern Baja California that was described as gynodioecious by morphological analysis. The aims of our project include accurately identifying the sexual system of C. wolfii using histological and functional studies and characterizing the developmental mechanisms that underlie its floral development.
METHODS
METHODS
Histological analyses were carried out on different stages of C. wolfii flowers and controlled crosses were performed in the field.
RESULT
RESULTS
Our results identified C. wolfii to be functionally dioecious. The ovule and anther development differed between staminate and pistillate flowers. In vivo pollen germination tests showed that the pollen of staminate and pistillate flowers were viable and the stigma and style of both staminate and pistillate flowers were receptive. This suggests that there are no genetic or developmental barriers in the earlier stages of pollen recognition and pollen germination.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Despite being functionally dioecious, we observed that functionally pistillate individuals produced fruits with a large number of aborted seeds. This implies that not only does this species have low reproductive success, but its small population sizes may lead to low genetic diversity.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35236303
doi: 10.1186/s12870-022-03431-0
pii: 10.1186/s12870-022-03431-0
pmc: PMC8889693
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
94Subventions
Organisme : hispanic-serving institutions education grants
ID : 2018-38422-28614
Informations de copyright
© 2022. The Author(s).
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