马氏珠母贝雌雄同体和自体受精的研究

对马氏珠母贝(Pinctada martensiiDunker)成体的性腺进行外观和切片观察,可把马氏珠母贝雌雄同体的个体分为2种类型,其中A类型可以从性腺外观特征上辨别,而B类型需性腺穿刺或组织切片来确认。对试验群体的性腺的类型进行的初步统计表明,雌雄同体个体比例A类型为4.6%,B类型为3.4%,其中雌雄生殖细胞均接近成熟的个体分别约为1.8%和2.1%。通过解剖、0.07‰的氨海水处理,对雌雄同体个体的自体授精及其早期胚胎发育进行了研究,发现自体授精的受精率低于异体授精,同时在发育过程中有较多的卵裂球解体,但仍有部分胚胎可以发育成D型幼虫。     

Effects of self-fertilization on growth and survival of larvae and juveniles of the scallop Argopecten purpuratus L.

Argopecten purpuratus Lamarck (1819) is a functional hermaphrodite that releases successively male and female gametes during their spawning process. Because the short period between the release of both kind of gametes, the chance of self-fertilization exists, even in natural conditions. The self-fertilization rate was quantified in 10 scallops as the proportion of spontaneous (nonartificially fertilized) cleaving eggs. The existence of inbreeding depression was tested comparing families produced by self- and cross-fertilization. An average of 9.9% of spontaneous self-fertilization was detected. No differences in survival or growth in either larvae or juvenile were found between families produced by self-fertilization and pair mating.     

Clarifying Baker's Law

Background

Baker''s Law states that colonization by self-compatible organisms is more likely to be successful than colonization by self-incompatible organisms because of the ability for self-compatible organisms to produce offspring without pollination agents. This simple model has proved very successful in plant ecology and has been applied to various contexts, including colonizing or ruderal species, islands colonizers, invasive species or mating system variation across distribution ranges. Moreover, it is one of the only models in population biology linking two traits of major importance in ecology, namely dispersal and mating system. Although Baker''s Law has stimulated a large number of empirical studies reporting the association of self-fertilization and colonizing ability in various contexts, the data have not established a general pattern for the association of traits.

Scope

In this paper, a critical position is adopted to discuss and clarify Baker''s Law. From the literature referring to Baker''s Law, an analysis made regarding how mating success is considered in such studies and discrepancies with population genetics theory of mating systems are highlighted. The data reporting the association of self-fertilization and colonizing ability are also briefly reviewed and the potential bias in interpretation is discussed. Lastly, a recent theoretical model analysing the link between colonizing ability and self-fertilization is considered.

Conclusions

Evolutionary predictions are actually more complex than Baker''s intuitive arguments. It appears that Baker''s Law encompasses a variety of ecological scenarios, which cannot be considered a priori as equivalent. Questioning what has been considered as self-evident for more than 50 years seems a reasonable objective to analyse in-depth dispersal and mating system traits.     

Cytological evidence of spontaneous androgenesis in the freshwater clam Corbicula leana Prime

 Cytological observations and DNA microfluorometry of the hermaphrodite freshwater triploid clam Corbicula leana revealed unusual androgenetic development as follows: (1) the maternal genome of zygotes was extruded as two polar bodies just after karyokinesis of the first meiosis, (2) only chromosomes derived from one male pronucleus constituted the metaphase of the first cleavage of zygotes, (3) DNA content of 7-day-old veliger larvae was identical to the somatic cells of the parent. This spontaneous androgenetic process in C. leana zygotes is the first case in the phylum Mollusca and may be related to the specialized mode of reproduction; i.e. hermaphroditism and self-fertilization. Received: 22 September 1997/Accepted: 7 December 1997     

The land-snail species of cochlicopa (Gastropoda: Pulmonata: Cochlicopidae): presentation of taxon-specific allozyme patterns, and evidence for a high level of self-fertilization

Genetic differentiation in the four nominal species C. nitens (Gallenstein, 1848), C. lubricella (Porro, 1838), C. lubrica (O. F. Müller, 1774) and C. repentina Hudec, 1960 was studied by investigating 21 isoenzyme loci. Allozymic markers exist, which clearly separate the first three taxa from each other, including in sympatric areas. By contrast, C. repentina and C. lubrica exhibit almost no isozymic differentiation and therefore, C. repentina should not be considered as a separate species, but as a member of C. lubrica sensu lato. The high frequency of homozygotes within all populations of all species shows that self-fertilization is the main breeding system of Cochlicopa. Genetic relationships between the various populations were inferred with different tree-constructing methods. In all phenograms, populations of C. nitens appear in one distinct cluster, whereas the grouping of C. lubricella changes when different clustering-procedures are used. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the three populations of C. lubricella have a common origin or whether they are polyphyletic with at least two independent ancestors.     

Production and supply of larvae as determinants of zonation in a brooding tropical coral

Production and settlement of planktonic larvae of the coral Favia fragum (Esper) were studied. The species is restricted to shallow back- and fore-reef habitats throughout the Caribbean Sea. Adults are in their greatest abundance on the reef-crest and shallow reef slope (<3 m) at Tague Bay, St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands. Because F. fragum broods larvae that are capable of immediate settlement, this distribution pattern may be due to variation in fecundity among depths. Corals were collected from shallow (1.0 m) and deep depths (10-13 m) and cultured in individual containers exposed to shaded ambient light. Corals from shallow depths had greater fecundity (polyp⁻¹ lunar cycle⁻¹) and were larger than deep corals. To test the hypothesis that fecundity was related to successful fertilization, corals were kept in different densities in an area with sea-grass, where there were no natural adults. Production of larvae 6 months later was not affected by density of adults, possibly due to self-fertilization. Larval choice of habitat was also examined. In the laboratory, twice as many larvae settled on coral rubble fragments collected from depths where adults were common (1.5 and 3 m) than on those from depths where adults were rare (10 m). Larval supply may establish the vertical distribution of adults on St. Croix.     

Selfing and outcrossing in hermaphrodite freshwater gastropods (Basommatophora): where, when and why

Hermaphrodite freshwater snails offer the opportunity to study the evolution of selling and outcrossing. Laboratory studies using genetic markers have shown that selling is possible in all species investigated, although outcrossing seems to be favoured in most. Predominance of outcrossing is promoted by sperm storing for up to several months. Studies using electrophoretic markers also suggest that outcrossing is the main breeding system in natural populations. However, heterozygote deficiencies found in some populations could indicate (partial) selfing. The evolution of self-fertilization and cross-fertilization is driven by numerous forces. Inbreeding depression is thought to select for outcrossing, and has been experimentally investigated in hermaphrodite freshwater snails. Other traits have evolved that prevent selfing. On the other hand, selfing could be selected under low density, or to preserve local adaptation, or when aphallic individuals occur within populations.     

Outcrossing in field populations of two species of self-fertile ascidians

Self-compatible gametes and short-lived larvae in the sessile solitary ascidians Corella inflata Huntsman and Chelyosoma productum Stimpson suggest that field populations might be characterized by limited dispersal and self-fertilization. Because C. inflata in the laboratory spawns gametes into its atrium and retains offspring until they are competent to settle, it was expected to show an almost complete lack of outcrossing in the field. C. productum, in the laboratory, spawns streams of gametes, sometimes eggs and sperm simultaneously, into the water and is self-compatible. Embryos develop for an additional day in the plankton before hatching. Thus, some setting was also expected for C. productum, though it appears to have a far greater potential for gene flow with both outcrossing and more extended larval dispersal possible. Genetic population structure in these species was examined using protein electrophoresis to determine frequencies of heterozygotes at the polymorphic locus glucosephosphate isomerase (GPI). Heterozygotes were found in both species indicating that outcrossing occurs. At three locations, C. inflata genotype frequencies did not differ significantly from Hardy-Weinberg expected frequencies and indicated from 41 to 100% outcrossing. Another measure of breeding system (S), calculated from the same data, gave a pooled location outcrossing estimate of 82%. Also, the three locations did not differ significantly from each other in allele frequencies, indicating a lack of genetic differentiation on a scale ≈ 100 km. Brooded embryos and short-lived larvae do not appear to be limiting gene flow on this scale in this species.     

Selection caused by self-fertilization

The generally held view that increased self-fertilization should be advantageous in the absence of counteracting selective forces reducing viability or fertility is reexamined. It is pointed out that the models on which this view is based all imply a gain in male (pollen) fertility with increased selfing. Hence, the postulated advantage may equally well be due to increased fertility, a fact which reopens the discussion on the selective significance of differential selfing. A new model for differential self-fertilization is presented which avoids built-in fertility selection by explicitly considering pollen available for self- and for cross-pollination. Plant types are distinguished with respect to their amounts r_i of pollen available for self-pollination, and these types are assumed to be identical with respect to their pollen and ovule fertilities. Moreover, the efficiency of cross-pollination is allowed to depend, for example, on population density, thus giving rise to a parameter b called “crossing potential”, while the efficiency of self-pollination is described by a parameter a called “selfing potential”. These parameters may be conceived of as ecological parameters. Increasing r_i produces a simultaneous increase in each of the four measures of self-fertilization (introduced in Part I of the present series) irrespective of the values of the ecological parameters. It is then shown that increased selfing can be both advantageous and disadvantageous in terms of fitness, dependig on the ecological parameters as well as on the mode of self-fertilization (i.e. where selfing occurs before or after outcrossing). The main result is, roughly, that for both selfing modes high crossing and low selfing potential favour increased cross-fertilization, while the reverse favours increased self-fertilization. However, the regions for a and b in which this holds true differ substantially for the two selfing modes. In the complements of these regions strange conditions for the evolution of increased selfing or outcrossing, respectively, exist. The significance of these results for explaining experimental observations is discussed.     

The rapid evolution of self-fertility in Spartina hybrids (Spartina alterniflora × foliosa) invading San Francisco Bay, CA

Plant hybridization can lead to the evolution of invasiveness. We wished to determine whether hybrids between the largely self-sterile Atlantic Spartina alterniflora and California native S. foliosa had evolved self-fertility during their ca 30 year existence in San Francisco Bay, CA. In pollination experiments we found that neither of the parental species was self-fertile, nor were early generation hybrids. A large fraction of later generation hybrids were profusely self-fertile. Inbreeding depression was high in the parental species and early generation hybrids, but was much reduced in later generation hybrids—some even showed outbreeding depression. We found that populations of later generation hybrids and their seedling progeny were almost two-fold more homozygous than early generation hybrids, consistent with the evidence of increased selfing shown by our parentage analyses based upon 17 microsatellite markers. We posit that evolved self-fertility has contributed substantially to the rapid spread of hybrid Spartina in San Francisco Bay.