Abstract

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.

Keywords

endosperm; genetic value; genomic imprinting; parental conflict; postzygotic hybridization barrier

Published in

Molecular Ecology
2016, Volume: 25, number: 11, pages: 2620-2629

SLU Authors

• Lafon-Placette, Clément

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Köhler, Claudia

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Cell Biology
Developmental Biology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13552

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81011