1. A reappraisal of the evolutionary and developmental pathway of apomixis and its genetic control in angiosperms
- Author
-
Fulvio Pupilli, Fabio Palumbo, Sergio Sgorbati, Emidio Albertini, and Gianni Barcaccia
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,lcsh:QH426-470 ,agamospermy ,Asexual reproduction ,basal angiosperms (ANA-grade) ,sporocyteless ,polycomb-group proteins ,reproductive systems ,apomixis evolution ,Review ,01 natural sciences ,Evolution, Molecular ,Magnoliopsida ,03 medical and health sciences ,Nymphaeales ,Meiosis ,Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ,Apomixis ,Genetics ,Eudicots ,Genetics (clinical) ,Plant Proteins ,Austrobaileyales ,biology ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,biology.organism_classification ,lcsh:Genetics ,030104 developmental biology ,Order (biology) ,Agamospermy ,Apomixis evolution ,Basal angiosperms (ANA-grade) ,Polycomb-group proteins ,Reproductive systems ,Sporocyteless ,Evolutionary biology ,Seeds ,Ploidy ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
Apomixis sensu stricto (agamospermy) is asexual reproduction by seed. In angiosperms it represents an easy byway of life cycle renewal through gamete-like cells that give rise to maternal embryos without ploidy reduction (meiosis) and ploidy restitution (syngamy). The origin of apomixis still represents an unsolved problem, as it may be either evolved from sex or the other way around. This review deals with a reappraisal of the origin of apomixis in order to deepen knowledge on such asexual mode of reproduction which seems mainly lacking in the most basal angiosperm orders (i.e., Amborellales, Nymphaeales and Austrobaileyales, also known as ANA-grade), while it clearly occurs in different forms and variants in many unrelated families of monocots and eudicots. Overall findings strengthen the hypothesis that apomixis as a whole may have evolved multiple times in angiosperm evolution following different developmental pathways deviating to different extents from sexuality. Recent developments on the genetic control of apomixis in model species are also presented and adequately discussed in order to shed additional light on the antagonist theories of gain- and loss-of-function over sexuality.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF