Enhanced leaky sex expression in response to pollen limitation in the dioecious plant Mercurialis annua.

Détails

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Etat: Public
Version: Final published version
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
ID Serval
serval:BIB_D7766319792E
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Enhanced leaky sex expression in response to pollen limitation in the dioecious plant Mercurialis annua.
Périodique
Journal of evolutionary biology
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Cossard G.G., Pannell J.R.
ISSN
1420-9101 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1010-061X
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
02/2021
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
34
Numéro
2
Pages
416-422
Langue
anglais
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Publication Status: ppublish
Résumé
In dioecious plants, males and females frequently show 'leaky' sex expression, with individuals occasionally producing flowers of the opposite sex. This leaky sex expression may have enabled the colonization of oceanic islands by dioecious plant species, and it is likely to represent the sort of variation upon which selection acts to bring about evolutionary transitions from dioecy to hermaphroditism. Although leakiness is commonly reported for dioecious species, it is not known whether it has plastic component. The question is interesting because males or females with an ability to enhance their leakiness plastically in the absence of mates would have an advantage of being able to produce progeny by self-fertilization. Here, we demonstrate that leaky sex expression in the wind-pollinated dioecious herb Mercurialis annua is plastically responsive to its mating context. We compared experimental populations of females growing either with or without males. Females growing in the absence of males were leakier in their sex expression than controls growing with males, producing more than twice as many male flowers. Our results thus provide a striking instance of plasticity in the reproductive behaviour of plants that is likely adaptive. We consider how females might sense their mating environment as a function of pollen availability, and we discuss possible constraints on the evolution of plasticity in sex expression when the environmental signals that individuals receive are unreliable.
Mots-clé
Adaptation, Physiological, Euphorbiaceae/physiology, Flowers/growth & development, Pollination, androdioecy, dioecy, hermaphroditism, inconstancy, plasticity, reproductive assurance, sex allocation
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Financement(s)
Fonds national suisse / Projets
Création de la notice
02/11/2020 13:03
Dernière modification de la notice
23/11/2022 7:15
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