Consanguineous mating, specialization, and the environment: how multiple variable interactions affect the evolution of dioecy

Seed germination and seedling allogamy in Rosmarinus officinalis: the costs of inbreeding

Self-pollination by geitonogamy is likely in self-compatible plants that simultaneously expose a large number of flowers to pollinators. However, progeny of these plants is often highly allogamous. Although mechanisms to increase cross-pollination have been identified and studied, their relative importance has rarely been addressed simultaneously in plant populations. We used Rosmarinus officinalis to explore factors that influence the probability of self-fertilisation due to geitonogamy or that purge its consequences, focusing on their effects on seed germination and allogamy rate. We experimentally tested the effect of geitonogamy on the proportion of filled seeds and how it influences germination rate. During two field seasons, we studied how life history and flowering traits of individuals influence seed germination and allogamy rates of their progeny in wild populations at the extremes of the altitudinal range. The traits considered were plant size, population density, duration of the flowering season, number of open flowers, flowering synchrony among individuals within populations and proportion of male-sterile flowers. We found that most seeds obtained experimentally from self-pollination were apparently healthy but empty, and that the proportion of filled seeds drove the differences in germination rate between self- and cross-pollination experiments. Plants from wild populations consistently had low germination rate and high rate of allogamy, as determined with microsatellites. Germination rate related positively to the length of the flowering season, flowering synchrony and the ratio of male-sterile flowers, whereas the rate of allogamous seedlings was positively related only to the ratio of male-sterile flowers. Rosemary plants purge most of the inbreeding caused by its pollination system by aborting the seeds. This study showed that the rates of seed germination and allogamy of the seedlings depend on a complex combination of factors that vary in space and time. Male sterility of flowers, length of the flowering season and flowering synchrony of individuals within populations all favour high rates of cross-pollination, therefore increasing germination and allogamy rates. Flowering traits appear to be highly plastic and respond to local and seasonal conditions.

On the rarity of dioecy in flowering plants

Dioecy, the coexistence of separate male and female individuals in a population, is a rare but phylogenetically widespread sexual system in flowering plants. While research has concentrated on why and how dioecy evolves from hermaphroditism, the question of why dioecy is rare, despite repeated transitions to it, has received much less attention. Previous phylogenetic and theoretical studies have suggested that dioecy might be an evolutionary dead end. However, recent research indicates that the phylogenetic support for this hypothesis is attributable to a methodological bias and that there is no evidence for reduced diversification in dioecious angiosperms. The relative rarity of dioecy thus remains a puzzle. Here, we review evidence for the hypothesis that dioecy might be rare not because it is an evolutionary dead end, but rather because it easily reverts to hermaphroditism. We review what is known about transitions between hermaphroditism and dioecy, and conclude that there is an important need to consider more widely the possibility of transitions away from dioecy, both from an empirical and a theoretical point of view, and by combining tools from molecular evolution and insights from ecology.

Hormonal interactions and gene regulation can link monoecy and environmental plasticity to the evolution of dioecy in plants

Most models for dioecy in flowering plants assume that dioecy arises directly from hermaphroditism through a series of independent feminizing and masculinizing mutations that become chromosomally linked. However, dioecy appears to evolve most frequently through monoecious grades. The major genetic models do not explain the evolution of unisexual flowers in monoecious and submonoecious populations, nor do they account for environmentally induced sexual plasticity. In this review, we explore the roles of environmental stress and hormones on sex determination, and propose a model that can explain the evolution of dioecy through monoecy, and the mechanisms of environmental sex determination. Environmental stresses elicit hormones that allow plants to mediate the negative effects of the stresses. Many of these same hormones are involved in the regulation of floral developmental genes. Recent studies have elucidated the mechanisms whereby these hormones interact and can act as switchpoints in regulatory pathways. Consequently, differential concentrations of plant hormones can regulate whole developmental pathways, providing a mechanism for differential development within isogenic individuals such as seen in monoecious plants. Sex-determining genes in such systems will evolve to generate clusters of coexpressed suites. Coexpression rather than coinheritance of gender-specific genes will define the sexual developmental fate. Therefore, selection for gender type will drive evolution of the regulatory sequences of such genes rather than their synteny. Subsequent mutations to hyper- or hyposensitive alleles within the hormone response pathway can result in segregating dioecious populations. Simultaneously, such developmental systems will remain sensitive to external stimuli that modify hormone responses.

Following Darwin's trail: interactions affecting the evolution of plant mating systems

• Since the time of Charles Darwin, the variation in floral characteristics and its effects on plant mating system evolution have fascinated scientists. Recent advances in the field of genetics, molecular biology, and ecology have been very effective in addressing questions regarding mechanisms and interactions underlying the evolution of plant mating systems using various model and nonmodel species. The depth of plant mating system research reflects the complexity and diversity seen in nature, ranging from self-compatible hermaphroditic flowers to separate sexed individuals. Further, the mechanisms involved in the evolution of plant mating systems are much more diverse and differ even among closely related species. Here, as a special section, we present a suite of original papers that range from theoretical modeling to multiyear field research that address different factors affecting plant mating systems, and their effects on shaping interactions between plants, insects, and their environment.

A multidimensional approach to understanding floral function and form

PREMISE OF THE STUDY

Variation in plant mating systems is a fundamental component of the diversity of floral form and function. Mating systems have a strong influence on the distribution and expression of genetic variation, which in turn can influence the course of mating system evolution. It has long been appreciated, however, that ecological interactions may provide much of the impetus behind these evolutionary changes. •

METHODS

This commentary reviews the Special Section in the American Journal of Botany (vol. 100, issue 6) that features novel research on the role of interactions between plants and their pollinators, seed dispersers, herbivores, and interspecific competitors in the evolution of selfing rates and gender. These studies vary in approach from empirical experiments, to phylogenetic comparisons, to theoretical models, to literature reviews as they each attempt to shed new light on longstanding questions about the selective forces and evolutionary pathways that have led to the diversified means by which plants promote or discourage self-fertilization. •

KEY RESULTS

Evidence is provided that indicates that ecological interactions (e.g., herbivory and heterospecific pollen deposition by pollinators) can strongly influence the relative advantages of selfing and outcrossing. Ecological interactions can also influence allocation to sexual functions, which will influence individual and population outcrossing rates and possibly the evolutionary path of gender expression. •

CONCLUSIONS

Mating systems evolution is clearly a multidimensional problem. Research that places the study of mating and sexual systems within a more realistic ecological context will no doubt reveal more complexity as we move toward a better understanding of plant diversity.