Emergence of a floral colour polymorphism by pollinator-mediated overdominance.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kellenberger RT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6325131 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Emergence of a floral colour polymorphism by pollinator-mediated overdominance.
Kellenberger Roman T RT Byers Kelsey J R P KJRP De Brito Francisco Rita M RM Staedler Yannick M YM LaFountain Amy M AM Schönenberger Jürg J Schiestl Florian P FP Schlüter Philipp M PM
Nature communications 20190108 1
Maintenance of polymorphism by overdominance (heterozygote advantage) is a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology. In most examples known in nature, overdominance is a result of homozygotes suffering from deleterious effects. Here we show that overdominance maintains a non-deleterious polymorphism with black, red and white floral morphs in the Alpine orchid Gymnadenia rhellicani. Phenotypic, metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal that the morphs differ solely in cyanidin pigments, w ...[more]
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