Dataset Information

Decrease of sexual organ reciprocity between heterostylous primrose species, with possible functional and evolutionary implications.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Heterostyly is a floral polymorphism that has fascinated evolutionary biologists since Darwin's seminal studies on primroses. The main morphological characteristic of heterostyly is the reciprocal placement of anthers and stigmas in two distinct (distyly) floral morphs. Variation in the degree of intermorph sexual reciprocity is relatively common and known to affect patterns of pollen transfer within species. However, the partitioning of sexual organ reciprocity within and between closely related species remains unknown. This study aimed at testing whether intermorph sexual reciprocity differs within vs. between primrose species that hybridize in nature and whether the positions of sexual organs are correlated with other floral traits.

Methods

Six floral traits were measured in both floral morphs of 15 allopatric populations of Primula elatior, P. veris and P. vulgaris, and anther-stigma reciprocity was estimated within and between species. A combination of univariate and multivariate approaches was used to test whether positions of reproductive organs were less reciprocal between than within species, to assess correlations between sexual organ positions and other corolla traits, and to quantify differences between morphs and species.

Key results

The three species were morphologically well differentiated in most floral traits, except that P. veris and P. vulgaris did not differ significantly in sexual organ positions. Overall, lower interspecific than intraspecific sexual organ reciprocity was detected. This decrease was marked between P. elatior and P. vulgaris, intermediate and variable between P. elatior and P. veris, but negligible between P. veris and P. vulgaris.

Conclusions

Differences in anther and stigma heights between the analysed primrose species were of the same magnitude or larger than intraspecific differences that altered pollen flow within other heterostylous systems. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that considerable reductions of sexual organ reciprocity between species may lower interspecific pollen flow, with potential effects on reproductive isolation.

SUBMITTER: Keller B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3478057 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Decrease of sexual organ reciprocity between heterostylous primrose species, with possible functional and evolutionary implications.

Keller Barbara B de Vos Jurriaan M JM Conti Elena E

Annals of botany 20120921 6

<h4>Background and aims</h4>Heterostyly is a floral polymorphism that has fascinated evolutionary biologists since Darwin's seminal studies on primroses. The main morphological characteristic of heterostyly is the reciprocal placement of anthers and stigmas in two distinct (distyly) floral morphs. Variation in the degree of intermorph sexual reciprocity is relatively common and known to affect patterns of pollen transfer within species. However, the partitioning of sexual organ reciprocity withi ...[more]

PMID: 23002269

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Project description:Background and aimsHeteromorphy in flowers has a profound effect on breeding patterns within a species, but little is known about how it affects reproductive barriers between species. The heterostylous genus Primula is very diverse in the Himalaya region, but hybrids there have been little researched. This study examines in detail a natural hybrid zone between P. beesiana and P. bulleyana.MethodsChloroplast sequencing, AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers and morphological comparisons were employed to characterize putative hybrids in the field, using synthetic F1s from hand pollination as controls. Pollinator visits to parent species and hybrids were observed in the field. Hand pollinations were conducted to compare pollen tube growth, seed production and seed viability for crosses involving different morphs, species and directions of crossing.Key resultsMolecular data revealed all hybrid derivatives examined to be backcrosses of first or later generations towards P. bulleyana: all had the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of this species. Some individuals had morphological traits suggesting they were hybrids, but they were genetically similar to P. bulleyana; they might have been advanced generation backcrosses. Viable F1s could not be produced with P. bulleyana pollen on P. beesiana females, irrespective of the flower morphs used. Within-morph crosses for each species had very low (<10 %) seed viability, whereas crosses between pin P. bulleyana (female) and pin P. beesiana had a higher seed viability of 30 %. Thus genetic incompatibility mechanisms back up mechanical barriers to within-morph crosses in each species, but are not the same between the two species. The two species share their main pollinators, and pollinators were observed to fly between P. bulleyana and hybrids, suggesting that pollinator behaviour may not be an important isolating factor.ConclusionsHybridization is strongly asymmetric, with P. bulleyana the only possible mother and all detected hybrids being backcrosses in this direction. Partial ecological isolation and inhibition of heterospecific pollen, and possibly complete barriers to F1 formation on P. beesiana, may be enough to make F1 formation very rare in these species. Therefore, with no F1 detected, this hybrid zone may have a finite life span as successive generations become more similar to P. bulleyana.

Project description:The interaction between floral traits and reproductive isolation is crucial to explaining the extraordinary diversity of angiosperms. Heterostyly, a complex floral polymorphism that optimizes outcrossing, evolved repeatedly and has been shown to accelerate diversification in primroses, yet its potential influence on isolating mechanisms remains unexplored. Furthermore, the relative contribution of pre- versus postmating barriers to reproductive isolation is still debated. No experimental study has yet evaluated the possible effects of heterostyly on pre- and postmating reproductive mechanisms. We quantify multiple reproductive barriers between the heterostylous Primula elatior (oxlip) and P. vulgaris (primrose), which readily hybridize when co-occurring, and test whether traits of heterostyly contribute to reproductive barriers in unique ways. We find that premating isolation is key for both species, while postmating isolation is considerable only for P. vulgaris; ecogeographic isolation is crucial for both species, while phenological, seed developmental, and hybrid sterility barriers are also important in P. vulgaris, implicating sympatrically higher gene flow into P. elatior. We document for the first time that, in addition to the aforementioned species-dependent asymmetries, morph-dependent asymmetries affect reproductive barriers between heterostylous species. Indeed, the interspecific decrease of reciprocity between high sexual organs of complementary floral morphs limits interspecific pollen transfer from anthers of short-styled flowers to stigmas of long-styled flowers, while higher reciprocity between low sexual organs favors introgression over isolation from anthers of long-styled flowers to stigmas of short-styled flowers. Finally, intramorph incompatibility persists across species boundaries, but is weakened in long-styled flowers of P. elatior, opening a possible backdoor to gene flow through intramorph pollen transfer between species. Therefore, patterns of gene flow across species boundaries are likely affected by floral morph composition of adjacent populations. To summarize, our study highlights the general importance of premating isolation and newly illustrates that both morph- and species-dependent asymmetries shape boundaries between heterostylous species.

Dataset Information

Decrease of sexual organ reciprocity between heterostylous primrose species, with possible functional and evolutionary implications.

Background and aims

Methods

Key results

Conclusions

Publications

Decrease of sexual organ reciprocity between heterostylous primrose species, with possible functional and evolutionary implications.

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