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Selfed embryo death in Pinus taeda : a phenotypic profile
Author(s) -
Williams Claire G.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02359.x
Subject(s) - biology , embryo , inbreeding depression , offspring , human fertilization , pinus <genus> , phenotype , inbreeding , ovule , botany , genetics , demography , pregnancy , gene , population , sociology
Summary• Selective elimination of selfed embryos, or inbreeding depression, is shared among many members of the Pinaceae but it has not been fully characterized at the phenotypic level. • Here, two death pattern model hypotheses are tested using 10 621 Pinus taeda embryos sampled in two cohorts. Cones from a single pedigree based on selfed, outbred, parent–offspring and offspring–parent matings were destructively sampled weekly before, during and after fertilization. • Selfed embryo deaths adhered to two patterns over the course of development: death was linear with respect to days from fertilization; and a stage‐specific death peak occurred during the early embryogeny stage. This death peak occurred from 23 to 36 d after fertilization in the 2004 cohort and from 27 to 34 d after fertilization in the 2006 cohort. Of those selfed embryos that died, 64–83% died at stages where a single dominant embryo was elongating inside the female gametophyte. • Additional genetic models are needed to account for the stage‐specific death component of selfed P. taeda embryos.