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Sexual System and Its Evolution

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The Persimmon Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

Sexual systems in tree crop species is often an important determinant of stable and efficient fruit production, and harnessing them is a key for both cultivation and breeding aspects. In contrast to animals, plants have various sexual systems to maintain their genetic diversities to fit new environments and to expand their habitats. Most of the Diospyros species are classified as dioecy (separated male and female individuals) controlled by the Y-encoded putatively single sex-determining gene, OGI, which encodes small-RNA repressing its autosomal target gene, MeGI. This mechanism would be specific to the Diospyros lineage, as these two sex-determining factors were derived from lineage-specific paleo-duplications, and thereafter, neofunctionalizations. Furthermore, some polyploid Diospyros species exhibit plastic sexuality mixed with male and female flowers or with occasional conversion from male to hermaphrodite flowers, which are determined by internal environmental conditions and epigenetic layers on the sex determinants. Although recent findings made some achievements for understanding the evolutionary paths into dioecy and the escape from that into plastic sexuality, many unclarified mechanisms have still remained. In this chapter, we introduce the sexual systems and their evolution in Diospyros species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University, Okayama, 700-8530, Japan

    Kanae Masuda & Takashi Akagi

  2. Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), PRESTO, Kawaguchi-shi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan

    Takashi Akagi

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  1. Kanae Masuda
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  2. Takashi Akagi
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Correspondence to Kanae Masuda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Ryutaro Tao

  2. Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China

    Zhengrong Luo

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Masuda, K., Akagi, T. (2022). Sexual System and Its Evolution. In: Tao, R., Luo, Z. (eds) The Persimmon Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05584-3_8

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