Facultative apomixis in Pilosella and its role in evolution
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Citation | |
| Description | The role of facultatively apomictic members of the genus Pilosella was studied on different scales by a complex approach which included direct studies of population composition in field, studies of progeny of selected plants, which originated in the field, and artificial hybridizations. We used morphometric approach, studies of reproductive systems by both emasculation and analysis of progeny origins, isozymes to identify minimum number of genotypes, chloroplast DNA to identify haplotypes. The main results can be summarized into these points: 1. Analysis of population composition in two mountain ranges (the Krkonoše Mts., and Šumava Mts.) showed that facultative apomicts served as a mother plants for half of hybrids and hybridogenous species. 2. Progeny analysis of both, apomictic and sexual mothers showed that apomictic plants produce more variation with respect to ploidy level. 3. This was suppported by reciprocal experimental crosses between apomictic and sexual parents. One hybridization of apomictic mother plant can produce the whole set of progeny differing in ploidy/chromosome numbers. 4. Apomicts serve as a main force of polyploidization, because they produce unreduced female gametes more often than sexual plants. 5. Apomicts as mother plants were at the origin of many hybrid swarms and served as a source of genetic material for sexual plants via introgression. 6. Totally unknown is the role of polyhaploids produced by apomicts. We know they can grow well and survive or they can produce progeny with doubled chromosomal set, in the cycle polyploid–polyhaploid–polyploid. New polyploid is different from original one being more homozygous. This process is extremely difficult to be recognized in the field, because we do not know how to detect polyhaploids when we do not know mother plant. |
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