Male sterility in triploid dandelions: asexual females vs. asexual hermaphrodites

Male reproductive output, pollen in plants and sperm in animals has been shown to constitute a substantial cost for many organisms. In parthenogenetic hermaphrodites, selection is therefore expected to reduce the allocation of resources to male reproductive output. However, sustained production of pollen or sperm has been observed in numerous asexual hermaphrodites. We studied the widespread production of pollen by triploid asexual dandelions, Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia, comparing rare male sterile individuals with pollen producing asexuals. We found that individuals can show plasticity in the production of pollen, but that it is nevertheless possible to distinguish between (facultatively) male sterile asexuals and male fertile asexuals. Based on evidence from genetic markers and crosses, we conclude that the male sterility in asexual dandelions is caused by nuclear genes, in contrast to the cytoplasmically inherited male sterility previously found in sexual dandelions. Male sterile lineages did not produce more seeds per flower head, heavier seeds or seeds that were more viable. However, male sterile plants did produce more seed heads and hence more seeds than pollen producing ones, indicating that they were able to reallocate resources toward seed production. Considering the difference in seed production, it remains puzzling that not more asexual dandelions are male sterile.     

Genetics of Hybrid Inviability and Sterility in Drosophila: Dissection of Introgression of D. simulans Genes in D. melanogaster Genome

Interspecific crosses between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans usually produce sterile unisexual hybrids. The barrier preventing genetic analysis of hybrid inviability and sterility has been taken away by the discovery of a D. simulans strain which produces fertile female hybrids. D. simulans genes in the cytological locations of 21A1 to 22C1-23B1 and 30F3-31C5 to 36A2-7 have been introgressed into the D. melanogaster genetic background by consecutive backcrosses. Flies heterozygous for the introgression are fertile, while homozygotes are sterile both in females and males. The genes responsible for the sterility have been mapped in the introgression. The male sterility is caused by the synergistic effect of multiple genes, while the female sterility genes have been localized to a 170 kb region (32D2 to 32E4) containing 20 open reading frames. Thus, the female sterility might be attributed to a single gene with a large effect. We have also found that the Lethal hybrid rescue mutation which prevents the inviability of male hybrids from the cross of D. melanogaster females and D. simulans males cannot rescue those carrying the introgression, suggesting that D. simulans genes maybe non-functional in this hybrid genotype. The genes responsible for the inviability have not been separated from the female sterility genes by recombination.     

Irradiation of Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae) revisited: optimizing sterility induction

Irradiation doses currently applied to sterilize Mexican fruit flies, Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), for release under the sterile insect technique eradication campaign in Mexico, were reviewed in an effort to increase sterile male performance in the field. A dose maximizing sterility induction into wild populations was sought by balancing somatic fitness with genetic sterility. Doses of 40, 60, and 80 Gy induced 95% or more sterility in all males, which in turn induced similar degrees of sterility into a cohort of wild flies in the laboratory. However, a low dose of 40 Gy was sufficient to completely suppress egg production in females. Similarly, a mild carryover of genetic damage might have been transferred to the F1 progeny of males irradiated at 40 Gy crossed with fertile wild females. Our results suggest that the 80-Gy dose currently applied in Mexico can be lowered substantially without jeopardizing program goals. This view could be strengthened by comparing performance of males irradiated at different doses under more natural settings. In general, we discuss the value of determining irradiation doses for pest species where females are more radiosensitive than males, by selecting the dose that causes 100% sterility in females.     

Genome-Wide Survey of Hybrid Incompatibility Factors by the Introgression of Marked Segments of Drosophila Mauritiana Chromosomes into Drosophila Simulans

In hybrids between Drosophila simulans and D. mauritiana, males are sterile and females are fertile, in compliance with HALDANE's rule. The genetic basis of this phenomenon was investigated by introgression of segments of the mauritiana genome into a simulans background. A total of 87 positions throughout the mauritiana genome were marked with P-element insertions and replicate introgressions were made by repeated backcrossing to simulans for 15 generations. The fraction of hemizgyous X chromosomal introgressions that are male sterile is ~50% greater than the fraction of homozygous autosomal segments. This result suggests that male sterility factors have evolved at a higher rate on the X, but chromosomal differences in segment length cannot be ruled out. The fraction of homozygous autosomal introgressions that are male sterile is several times greater than the fraction that are either female sterile or inviable. This observation strongly indicates that male sterility factors have evolved more rapidly than either female sterility or inviability factors. These results, combined with previous work on these and other species, suggest that HALDANE's rule has at least two causes: recessivity of incompatibility factors and differential accumulation of sterility factors affecting males and females.     

Radiation effects on Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) reproductive behaviour

Female remating is a widespread behaviour, reported in several insect species. This behaviour can affect the efficiency of sterile insect technique (SIT); however, little is known about the postcopulatory behaviour of some pest species considered as candidates to be controlled by this technique, such as Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) (Diptera: Drosophilidae). In this study, we investigated the effects of male and female sterilization on mating and remating behaviour of D. suzukii. First, we tested the occurrence of multiple mating in different combinations between sterile and fertile males and females. Then, we tested the effects of male and female sterility on female propensity to mate and remate. We found an overall low remating rate by D. suzukii females. Male sterility did not influence mating and remating likelihood; however, copula duration of sterile males was shorter compared to fertile males. On the other hand, sterile females were less likely to mate. Our findings encourage further research regarding the use of SIT to control D. suzukii.     

Can the mass effect explain the mid-altitudinal peak in vascular plant species richness?

A mid-altitudinal peak in species richness is commonly observed and the mass effect (or source–sink effect) has been suggested as a possible cause. We test the importance of the mass effect for generating altitudinal patterns of plant species richness at two grain sizes using a simple estimate of sterility/fertility to indicate sinks and sources. To do this we identified species with fertile specimens (fertile species) and species with only sterile specimens (sterile species) in each sampling unit along altitudinal transects and assumed that the number of sterile species indicated the relative number of sink species, correspondingly that the number of fertile species indicated the relative number of source species when looking at the overall pattern of species richness along a transect. To evaluate this approach, we investigated the distribution of sterility and fertility of each species along the altitudinal transects. We found that sterile species are found more often at the edges and fertile species more often in the centre of the species altitudinal ranges than expected by chance. Using a fine grain, sterile species richness had a humped altitudinal pattern on all transects investigated at this scale, whereas using a coarse grain two of the three transects investigated had a humped pattern. At the fine grain, sterile species richness had a more pronounced peak than fertile species richness in two of the three transects investigated supporting the hypothesis of the mass effect, but this pattern did not persist at coarser grain. The observations at the fine grain are in accordance with the idea that the mass effect is important in shaping the mid-altitudinal peak in species richness, whereas the observations from the coarser grain are ambiguous.     

Bisexual Hybrid Sterility in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

A new type of hybrid sterility was investigated in D. melanogaster . Matings between strain 27 males from Para Wirra, South Australia, and Canton-S females produce 70–80% fully sterile male and female progeny. Strain 27 males produce sterile progeny when crossed to females of other geographic origins, but produce fertile progeny when crossed to a second sympatric strain. The sterility is avoided by lower rearing temperatures. Heat shock and tetracycline produce no improvement in the fertility of the hybrids. Normal flies produce sterile progeny when injected with, or fed, homogenates of sterile flies. A combination of maternal and paternal factors may interact to produce sterile hybrids by inhibiting gonad development.     

Adult size and reproduction in the ectoparasitoid Agrothereutes lanceolatus Walker (Hym., Ichneumonidae)

The effects of adult male and female size on reproductive performance in Agrothereutes lanceolatus Walker, a solitary ectoparasitoid of mature larvae and pupae of several pyralids and tortricids, were investigated. Females had a longer mean lifetime than males. Larger females lived longer, whereas the size of males did not influence the longevity. The number of ovarioles per female did not differ among females of different sizes but larger females carried a greater number of mature and immature eggs. When presented with host cocoons, large females parasitized a higher percentage of hosts than small females. This was due to the fact that larger females accepted more hosts for oviposition whereas smaller ones rejected more hosts. Small and large females used equal numbers of hosts for host-feeding, suggesting that large females removed a greater amount of materials from single hosts through host-feeding.     

Do sterile females affect the sexual performance of sterile males of Anastrepha ludens (Diptera: Tephritidae)?

The release of sterile males to suppress the Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Loew) population was simulated in field cages to compare the sexual performance of sterile males with wild females in the presence and absence of sterile females. Using different release ratios of sterile and wild individuals, this study showed that the presence of sterile females negatively affected the sexual performance of sterile males in mating with wild females. We found that the sterility induced was proportional to the magnitude of the sterile/fertile ratio. These results indicate that the release of sterile males without sterile females can significantly improve the efficiency of the sterile insect technique for the control of A. ludens.     

Irradiation of Anastrepha obliqua (Diptera: Tephritidae) revisited: optimizing sterility induction

The effects of irradiation doses increasing from 0 to 100 Gy (1 Gy is energy absorbed in J kg(-1) of irradiated material) on fertility, flight ability, survival, and sterile male mating performance were evaluated for mass-reared Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart). High sterility values (> 98.2%) for irradiated males were obtained for doses as low as 25 Gy. Egg hatch was inhibited for irradiated males crossed with irradiated females at a low dose of 20 Gy. However, we estimated that to achieve 99.9% sterility (standard goal of many sterile insect technique programs), irradiation doses had to be increased to a dose between 50 and 75 Gy. At doses of 25 Gy and greater, we observed a decreasing trend in adult flight ability and an increasing trend in adult mortality. Such differences were greater for pupae irradiated at a young age compared those irradiated 24 h before emergence. Our single most relevant finding was that sterility induction (i.e., oviposition of nonfertilized eggs) was two times greater for males irradiated at low doses (40 Gy) than for males irradiated at high doses (80 Gy) when used at a 3:1:1 sterilized male to fertile male to fertile female ratio. Males irradiated at high doses may have been outcompeted by unirradiated males when courting unirradiated females. Implications of our findings for sterile insect technique programs are discussed.     

CYTOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A CYTOPLASMIC MALE STERILE TOBACCO CYBRID AND ITS FERTILE COUNTERPART DURING EARLY ANTHER DEVELOPMENT

Ultrastructural differences were detected between a cytoplasmic male sterile tobacco cybrid (Nicotiana sp.) formed by protoplast fusion and normal, fertile tobacco. Cell structure was compared between anther primordia from normal, fertile tobacco and anther primordia from the cybrid using stereological methods. Particular emphasis was placed on the ultrastructure of mitochondria because of their known relationship to cytoplasmic male sterility in this cybrid and other plants. The volume density of mitochondria in cybrid anther primordia (6.3%) was significantly lower than in normal, fertile anther primordia (10.1%), although mitochondria from both plants contained similar amounts of cristae and profiles were of similar relative area. Dictyosomes and vacuoles also differed in volume density but not at a statistically significant level. Although the volume density of plastids did not differ, a larger amount of starch was stored within plastids in cybrid anther primordia than in normal, fertile anther primordia. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that an abnormally low rate of mitchondrial replication, and the resultant limit on adenosine triphosphate production, could contribute to cytoplasmic male sterility in the cybrid.     

与烟草细胞质雄性不育相关的线粒体基因atp9的mRNA研究

已知导入未编辑atp9 mRNA的烟草表现细胞质雄性不育(CMS),因此认为线粒体基因atp9是引起高等植物CMS的主要基因。为了解atp9在CMS中的作用机制,从3对烟草不育系及其同型保持系中提取atp9,利用实验与理论结合来分析其mRNA在编辑前后以及在不育系及其同型保持系中的一维、三维信息差别。结果表明,atp9mRNA一维信息方面的差异,更重要的是二级结构的差异和稳定性,可能是影响ATP合成而导致CMS的根本原因。     

Male sterility and restored fertility in annual mercuries, relations with sex differentiation

The paper summarizes the researches conducted on male sterility in Mercurialis annua. Totally sterile individuals are very scarce in the dioecious species showing as the other Mercuries, unisexual flowers devoid of rudiments of the opposite sex. From one sterile male mutant, a ‘sterile series’ was conducted and genetics was studied. Sterile, semisterile, restored fertile male lines were constructed as well as female lines containing the inducer gene of male sterility, both fertility restorers and the sensitive cytoplasm. Morphology and ontogeny of these isogenic lines were presented. Male sterile anthers (empty) present a splitted tapetum and an abnormal meiotic end. Restored fertile male lines were normal. The relative abundance of auxin and cytokinins was studied. A specific cytokinin pathway measured as a background in fertile lines, the cis-oxidized pathway characterised the ‘sterile series’. Restoration of normal meiosis and tapetum appeared for the highest quantities of cis-zeatin (669 ng instead of 192 ng/100 g fresh weight in totally sterile). Auxin quantities were abundant compared with the normal males. Gene expression in the ‘sterile series’ was also compared with the fertile lines. t-RNAs specific for normal females were expressed in the male ‘sterile series’. Hybridization kinetics and in vitro translations pf poly(A)⁺RNAs demonstrate specific sequences for each line. Comparisons between identical organs (normal fertile male/restored fertile male or normal female/female of the ‘sterile series’) exhibited nearly 10% differences. The results suggest that for stamen development, a cascade of regulators probably exists: sex genes acting on the induction of stamen or pistil, then genes for sterility/restoration of fertility acting in anthers. Fertility-sterility regulators control the synthesis of a specific cytokinin pathway. The new hormonal signals are linked to several specific genes expressed in the floral morphology characterizing each line of the ‘sterile series’.     

Qualitative inheritance of water-stress induced apical sterility in wheat (Triticum aestivum)

Grain number per unit area is an effective component of grain yield in bread wheat. Water-stress induced apical sterility (tip sterility) reduces the number of grains and, consequently, the grain yield in semi-arid regions with a shortage of available water during the pre-anthesis period. Crosses between apical sterile and apical fertile varieties and selection lines were made and F1, BC1, and F2 populations were subjected to moderate water-stress to study the inheritance of this character. The F2 and BC1 plants were qualitatively categorised into two phenotypes and tested for monohybrid and dihybrid segregation hypotheses. All the spikes of F1 plants obtained from crosses between apical fertile and apical sterile varieties were fully fertile indicating apical fertility is dominant to apical sterility. The F2 segregation Results from crosses between apical fertile lines and Y82187 suggested two complementary dominant genes segregating independently were involved in tolerance to water-stress induced apical sterility. In other words, two dominant genes determine apical fertility in these crosses and if one of these loci is homozygous, recessive waterstress will induce apical sterility. One F2 population segregated for both apical sterility and vernalisation response. Semi-winter plants had more sterile spikelets and the result of chi-square test confirmed monhybrid segregation for vernalisation response.     

Segregation distortion in hybrids between the Bogota and USA subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura

We show that, contrary to claims in the literature, "sterile" males resulting from the cross of the Bogota and USA subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura are weakly fertile. Surprisingly, these hybrid males produce almost all daughters when crossed to females of any genotype (pure Bogota, pure USA, hybrid F1). Several lines of evidence suggest that this sex ratio distortion is caused by sex chromosome segregation distortion in hybrid males. We genetically analyze this normally cryptic segregation distortion and show that it involves several regions of the Bogota X chromosome that show strong epistatic interactions with each other. We further show that segregation distortion is normally masked within the Bogota subspecies by autosomal suppressors. Our analysis shows that the genetic basis of hybrid segregation distortion is similar to that of hybrid male sterility between the same subspecies. Indeed the severity of segregation distortion is correlated with the severity of sterility among hybrids. We discuss the possibility that hybrid sterility in this paradigmatic case of incipient speciation is caused by segregation distortion.     

The I-R system of hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster: influence on SF females sterility of their inducer and reactive paternal chromosomes.

A specific kind of sterile F1 female, denoted SF, arises when females from strains known as reactive are crossed with males from the complementary class of strains (inducer). It has been shown that this sterility results from the interaction between the maternal reactive cytoplasm and any one of the paternal inducer chromosomes. This interaction yields other dysgenic traits including non-disjunction and mutations. In this note, the abilities of paternal gametes containing various combinations of inducer and reactive chromosomes to give more or less sterile SF females when fertilising standard reactive oocytes were compared. Although they did not cause SF sterility, reactive chromosomes, when present in sperm containing at least one inducer chromosome, were found to influence the intensity of sterility: variations of SF sterility were observed between SF females which differed only by one paternally inherited reactive chromosome. Reactive chromosomes are known to control the cytoplasmic state of reactive females. The present results suggest that this chromosomal control also takes place in SF females.     

mRNA differential display between sterile and fertile anther of rice and analysis of cDNA differential fragments

Ｃｙｔｏｐｌａｓｍｉｃｍａｌｅｓｔｅｒｉｌｉｔｙ(ＣＭＳ)ｉｎｈｉｇｈｐｌａｎｔｓｉｓａｍａｔｅｒｎａｌｌｙｉｎｈｅｒｉｔｅｄｔｒａｉｔｔｈａｔｓｕｐｐｒｅｓｓｅｓｖｉａｂｌｅｐｏｌｌｅｎｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎａｎｄｉｓｅｘｔｒｅｍｅｌｙｖａｌｕａｂｌｅｆｏｒｔｈｅｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎｏｆｈｙｂｒｉｄｓｅｅｄｓ.ＡｐｐｌｉｃａｔｉｏｎｏｆＣＭＳｒｉｃｅｔｏｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔｏｆｈｙｂｒｉｄｒｉｃｅｖａｒｉｅｔｉｅｓｈａｓａｌｒｅａｄｙｂｅｅｎａｖａｉｌａｂｌｅｉｎＣｈｉｎａｓｉｎｃｅ1976.Ｉｎｒｅ…     

一个新的小麦核不育材料的发现和鉴定

从轮选可育株衍生的后代中发现一个雄性不育株,即P740不育材料。在P7 40不育材料第1、2、3次姊妹交后代中,可育株与不育株的分离比分别符合4:1、 7:5和15:13。在第2次姊妹交后代中可育株产生的40个株系中,7个株系的育性分离比是15:1,33个株系是3:1,二者约分别占1/7和6/7。以上结果表明,P740是一个双隐性基因控制的核雄性不育材料。本文提出了计算隐性核不育材料姊妹交后代育性分离比率的公式。 Abstract:A male sterile material was found in the progeny derived from a fertile plant in the population of recurrent selection.The ratios of fertile to sterile plants in three sib-mating of the male sterile material with fertile plants were to 4:1,7:5 and 15:13,respcctively.In the 40 plant lines derived from the fertile plants of second sib-mating population,33 lines approximated to the segregation ratio of 3(fertile):a double recessive nuclear male sterile material.A genetic pattern for calculation of fertile segregation in sib-mating progenies of recessive nuclear male sterile material was advanced in this paper.     

Meiotic abnormality in dominant genic male sterile Brassica napus

Rs1046AB is a dominant genic male sterile (DGMS) Brassica napus line derived from Yi-3A. Until now the molecular mechanism of its male sterility is still unknown. In this paper, cytological observations demonstrated that all cells in sterile plants contained condensed nuclei at the beginning stage of meiosis; this implied that meiotic cells were degenerating. Although 31% (93/300) cells escaped from the state of nuclei condensation in buds about 3 mm in length (in such length, normal plants are at tetrade stage), no cells could pass the pachytene stage. Then pachytene or zygotene like chromatin/chromosomes sometimes congregated into two or more groups with different size, which resulted in the formation of micronuclei. Nucleoplasmic bridge could also be found in some meiotic cells. Even when the "microspore's analogue" appeared in sterile buds about 4 mm in length (in such length, mature pollens could be detected in normal buds), the nuclei condensation and escaped cells with pachytene like chromosome still could be found in the sterile anthers. So it could be concluded that male sterility was caused by meiotic abnormality. According to our previous research, four genes related to cell cycle/DNA processing were identified in fertile plants. RT-PCR further confirmed that three DNA repair genes were partially or completely repressed in the sterile plants, and were only expressed in the early stage fertile flower buds, i.e. the buds <3 mm in length. Therefore, DGMS of rapeseed was probably caused by the abnormality in DNA damage repair system during meiosis. According to these results, some possible mechanisms of fertility control were discussed.     

SPERM PRODUCTION AND STERILITY IN HYBRIDS BETWEEN TWO SUBSPECIES OF DROSOPHILA PSEUDOOBSCURA

Subspecies of Drosophila pseudoobscura, one occurring in the United States and the other in Bogota, Columbia, exhibit Haldane's Rule in one direction of the cross. Additionally, D. pseudoobscura produces two sperm types: short, sterile sperm and long, fertile, sperm. Here I examine the relationship between the production of short and long sperm and hybrid sterility. Fertile and sterile hybrid males produce a greater proportion of short sperm compared to parental males with sterile hybrids producing mainly short, immotile sperm. Sperm transfer and storage patterns were similar between fertile hybrid and parental strains; and unexpectedly, short, immotile sperm from sterile hybrids were stored. These findings raise the question of whether different genetic mechanisms disrupt both sperm heteromorphic production and sperm motility and whether this indicates that females exert some control over sperm storage.