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Genetics, Vol. 178, 379-383, January 2008, Copyright © 2008
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.080572

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Cypress Surrogate Mother Produces Haploid Progeny From Alien Pollen

Christian Pichot*,1, Benjamin Liens*, Juana L. Rivera Nava*, Julien B. Bachelier{dagger} and Mohamed El Maâtaoui{ddagger}

* Unité de Recherches Forestières Méditerranéennes (UR 629), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 84914 Avignon, France, {dagger} UMR BotAnique et BioinforMatique de l'Architecture des Plantes (AMAP), CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/Université Montpellier II, 34398 Montpellier, France and {ddagger} UMR 406 INRA/Université d'Avignon, 84914 Avignon, France

1 Corresponding author: URFM-INRA, Site Agroparc, Domaine Saint Paul, 84914 Avignon, France.
E-mail: christian.pichot{at}avignon.inra.fr

Although most living organisms reproduce sexually, some have developed a uniparental reproduction where the embryo usually derives from the female parent. A unique case of paternal apomixis in plants has been recently reported in Cupressus dupreziana, an endangered Mediterranean conifer. This species produces unreduced pollen that develop into all-paternal embryos within the seed tissues. We analyzed seedlings produced by open-pollinated C. dupreziana seed trees using morphological descriptors, ploidy levels assessed through flow cytometry, and AFLP genetic diversity. In situ C. dupreziana seed trees (from Algeria) produced only diploid C. dupreziana progeny. In contrast, only one-third of the progeny produced by ex situ C. dupreziana seed trees planted in French collections were similar to C. dupreziana seedlings; the other progeny were haploid or diploid C. sempervirens seedlings. These results demonstrate that C. dupreziana ovules allow for the development of all-paternal embryos from pollen produced by another species, C. sempervirens. Thus, the in planta androgenesis is achieved through the combination of the embryogenic behavior of pollen grains and the ability of seed tree ovules to act as a surrogate mother. This phenomenon offers a unique opportunity to produce, by natural means, highly valuable material for genetic studies and selection of sterile cultivars.






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Copyright © 2008 by the Genetics Society of America.