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Selective microspore abortion correlated with aneuploidy: an indication of meiotic drive

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Abstract

Selective megaspore abortion (monomegaspory) probably arose once in seed plants and occurs routinely in more than 70% of angiosperm species, representing one of the key characters of a heterosporous life history. In contrast, selective microspore abortion leading to pollen dispersal as pseudomonads (here termed monomicrospory) apparently arose at least twice independently within angiosperms, though it occurs in a limited number of taxa. Remarkably, similar examples of monomicrospory occur in members of two distantly related angiosperm families: the sedge family (Cyperaceae) and the epacrid subfamily (Styphelioideae) of the eudicot family Ericaceae. In sedges, monomicrospory is derived directly from normal tetrads, whereas epacrid pseudomonads apparently evolved via an intermediate stage, in which variable sterility occurs in a single tetrad. Our comparison of these two examples of selective microspore abortion highlights a correlation with aneuploidy, indicating that non-random chromosome segregation caused by monomicrospory could drive chromosomal mutations to rapid fixation through meiotic drive.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Richard Bateman and Ralf Kynast for critically reading the manuscript and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Micromorphology Section, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3DS, UK

    Carol A. Furness & Paula J. Rudall

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  1. Carol A. Furness
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  2. Paula J. Rudall
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Correspondence to Carol A. Furness.

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Communicated by Hugh Dickinson.

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Furness, C.A., Rudall, P.J. Selective microspore abortion correlated with aneuploidy: an indication of meiotic drive. Sex Plant Reprod 24, 1–8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-010-0150-z

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