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Endosperm‐based postzygotic hybridization barriers: developmental mechanisms and evolutionary drivers
Author(s) -
LafonPlacette Clément,
Köhler Claudia
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.13552
Subject(s) - endosperm , biology , in situ hybridization , embryo , ploidy , genetics , gene , evolutionary biology , gene expression
The endosperm is a nourishing tissue that serves to support embryo growth. Failure of endosperm development will ultimately cause embryo arrest and seed lethality, a phenomenon that is frequently observed upon hybridization of related plant species or species that differ in ploidy. Endosperm‐based interspecies or interploidy hybridization barriers depend on the direction of the hybridization, causing nonreciprocal seed defects. This reveals that the parental genomes are not equivalent, implicating parent‐of‐origin specific genes generating this type of hybridization barrier. Recent work revealed that endosperm‐based hybridization barriers are rapidly evolving. In this review, we discuss the developmental mechanisms causing hybrid seed lethality in angiosperms as well as the evolutionary forces establishing endosperm‐based postzygotic hybridization barriers.