Independent S-locus mutations caused self-fertility in Arabidopsis thaliana

PLoS Genet. 2009 Mar;5(3):e1000426. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000426. Epub 2009 Mar 20.

Abstract

A common yet poorly understood evolutionary transition among flowering plants is a switch from outbreeding to an inbreeding mode of mating. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana evolved to an inbreeding state through the loss of self-incompatibility, a pollen-rejection system in which pollen recognition by the stigma is determined by tightly linked and co-evolving alleles of the S-locus receptor kinase (SRK) and its S-locus cysteine-rich ligand (SCR). Transformation of A. thaliana, with a functional AlSRKb-SCRb gene pair from its outcrossing relative A. lyrata, demonstrated that A. thaliana accessions harbor different sets of cryptic self-fertility-promoting mutations, not only in S-locus genes, but also in other loci required for self-incompatibility. However, it is still not known how many times and in what manner the switch to self-fertility occurred in the A. thaliana lineage. Here, we report on our identification of four accessions that are reverted to full self-incompatibility by transformation with AlSRKb-SCRb, bringing to five the number of accessions in which self-fertility is due to, and was likely caused by, S-locus inactivation. Analysis of S-haplotype organization reveals that inter-haplotypic recombination events, rearrangements, and deletions have restructured the S locus and its genes in these accessions. We also perform a Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) analysis to identify modifier loci associated with self-fertility in the Col-0 reference accession, which cannot be reverted to full self-incompatibility. Our results indicate that the transition to inbreeding occurred by at least two, and possibly more, independent S-locus mutations, and identify a novel unstable modifier locus that contributes to self-fertility in Col-0.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Biological Evolution
  • Fertility / genetics*
  • Haplotypes
  • Mutation*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics*
  • Protein Kinases / genetics*
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Recombination, Genetic

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Protein Kinases
  • S-receptor kinase