植物有性生殖对温度胁迫反应的研究进展

开花植物的有性生殖阶段对温度胁迫高度敏感,高温热害和低温冷害都会对这一过程造成严重影响。本文全面总结了温度胁迫对作物有性生殖的影响,明确花粉发育过程是有性生殖过程中对温度胁迫最敏感的时期;转录组和蛋白质组的研究结果表明,蛋白激酶、热激转录因子、热休克蛋白等可能参与花粉发育期对热胁迫的信号转导。理解植物在有性生殖发育阶段如何适应温度胁迫的机理,为遗传育种实践中筛选对温度耐受的作物品种提供指导,也为基因工程选育对温度耐受的品种提供可能。     

On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction

On Fertile Ground:. Natural History of Human Reproduction. Peter T. Ellison. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. 358 pp.     

气候变化对植物有性生殖影响的研究进展

植物对全球气候变化的响应近年来已成为植物学研究热点之一,而有性生殖阶段对环境的变化最敏感。本文较系统地综述了过去数十年气候变化主要因子温度、温室气体、紫外线B辐射和气溶胶对植物花期、授粉受精和生殖产量等有性生殖过程的影响。主要概括:(1)温度适度升高促使大部分植物花期提前,加速授粉受精过程,但同时使传粉者活动期和花期分离而影响授粉受精,其部分增加生殖产量,但温度过高则减少产量。(2)温室气体中水汽过多或过少都减少植物生殖产量;CO2浓度升高一般有利于植物授粉受精,增加生殖产量;O3浓度增加则不利于植物生殖生长。(3)增强的UV-B辐射影响植物花期,不利于授粉受精,对生殖产量影响复杂。(4)气溶胶排放量增加对植物生殖产量的影响依据气溶胶浓度、植物冠层结构和环境条件不同而异。最后分析总结了国内外相关研究中仍存在的不足之处,为更好理解和深入研究植物对气候变化的响应机制提供参考。     

青叶胆开花动态及有性生殖特征的解剖学研究

对中国云南区域性特色药用植物青叶胆(Swertia mileensis)单花开放、雌雄配子体形成、胚胎发育过程进行了观察研究。结果显示:(1)青叶胆繁殖生长始于每年8月底9月初,蕾期较长,一般为35d左右;花期较短,2~3d即完成开花;果实期最长,为40~45d。(2)青叶胆具有一系列机制来保证其异花授粉,如:花药为丁字着药;雌雄异熟,雄蕊比雌蕊早熟23h左右,在性成熟时间上二者仅有1~2h的重叠期;此外,发现一种新的避免自花授粉机制,即雄蕊与雌蕊在空间上位置的变化,花药正面由最先与雌蕊紧贴,倒转180°后,变成背面面对雌蕊,同时花丝发生30°的偏移,导致花药位置最后发生了210°的变化。(3)解剖学观察显示:青叶胆花药4室,花药壁发育为基本型,分化完全的花药壁由5层细胞组成;绒毡层单层,2型起源,为腺质绒毡层,药室内的"类胎座"或"横格"是早期该层细胞有丝分裂凸入药室中央并原位退化形成的;中层2层;药室内壁退化;表皮宿存,纤维状加厚。小孢子母细胞减数分裂为同时型,四分体排列方式主要为四面体形;成熟花粉为2-细胞或3-细胞类型。子房上位,2心皮,1室;侧膜胎座,薄珠心,单珠被;倒生胚珠;大孢子母细胞减数分裂形成4个大孢子直线形排列,合点端的大孢子具功能,雌配子体发育为蓼型。3个反足细胞宿存,每个细胞均多核和异常膨大,反足吸器明显,并在胚乳之外形成染色较深的类似"外胚乳"的结构。珠孔受精,属有丝分裂前类型。胚乳发育为核型;胚胎发育为茄型。果实成熟时,种子发育至早心形胚阶段,具发达的胚柄。发达的反足细胞和胚柄结构对青叶胆种子的后熟具有重要的生殖适应与进化意义。     

Origins of Eukaryotic Sexual Reproduction

Sexual reproduction is a nearly universal feature of eukaryotic organisms. Given its ubiquity and shared core features, sex is thought to have arisen once in the last common ancestor to all eukaryotes. Using the perspectives of molecular genetics and cell biology, we consider documented and hypothetical scenarios for the instantiation and evolution of meiosis, fertilization, sex determination, uniparental inheritance of organelle genomes, and speciation.The transition from prokaryote to protoeukaryote to the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) entailed conservation, modification, and reconfiguration of preexisting genetic circuits via mutation, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), endosymbiosis, and selection, as detailed in previous articles of this collection. During the course of this evolutionary trajectory, the LECA became sexual, reassorting and recombining chromosomes in a process that entails regulated fusions of haploid gametes and diploid → haploid reductions via meiosis. That the LECA was sexual is no longer a matter of speculation/debate as evidence of sex, and of genes exclusively involved in meiosis, has been found in all of the major eukaryotic radiations (Brawley and Johnson 1992; Ramesh et al. 2005; Kobiyama et al. 2007; Malik et al. 2008; Phadke and Zufall 2009; Fritz-Laylin et al. 2010; Lahr et al. 2011; Peacock et al. 2011; Vanstechelman et al. 2013).We propose that the transition to a sexual LECA entailed four innovations: (1) alternation of ploidy via cell–cell fusion and meiosis; (2) mating-type regulation of cell–cell fusion via differentiation of complementary haploid gametes (isogametic and then anisogametic), a prelude to species-isolation mechanisms; (3) mating-type-regulated coupling of the diploid/meiotic state to the formation of adaptive diploid resting spores; and (4) mating-type-regulated transmission of organelle genomes. Our working assumption is that the protoeukaryote → LECA era featured numerous sexual experiments, most of which failed but some of which were incorporated, integrated, and modified. Therefore, this list is not intended to suggest a sequence of events; rather, the four innovations most likely coevolved in a parallel and disjointed fashion.Once these core sexual-cycle themes were in place, the evolution of eukaryotic sex has featured countless prezygotic and postzygotic variations, the outcome being the segregation of panmictic populations into distinct species with distinctive adaptations.For additional reviews on the evolution of sex, the interested reader is referred to Goodenough (1985), Dacks and Roger (1999), Schurko et al. (2009), Wilkins and Holliday (2009), Gross and Bhattacharya (2010), Lee et al. (2010), Perrin (2012), and Calo et al. (2013).     

Loss of Sexual Reproduction and Dwarfing in a Small Metazoan

Background

Asexuality has major theoretical advantages over sexual reproduction, yet newly formed asexual lineages rarely endure. The success, or failure, of such lineages is affected by their mechanism of origin, because it determines their initial genetic makeup and variability. Most previously described mechanisms imply that asexual lineages are randomly frozen subsamples of a sexual population.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We found that transitions to obligate parthenogenesis (OP) in the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, a small freshwater invertebrate which normally reproduces by cyclical parthenogenesis, were controlled by a simple Mendelian inheritance. Pedigree analysis suggested that obligate parthenogens were homozygous for a recessive allele, which caused inability to respond to the chemical signals that normally induce sexual reproduction in this species. Alternative mechanisms, such as ploidy changes, could be ruled out on the basis of flow cytometric measurements and genetic marker analysis. Interestingly, obligate parthenogens were also dwarfs (approximately 50% smaller than cyclical parthenogens), indicating pleiotropy or linkage with genes that strongly affect body size. We found no adverse effects of OP on survival or fecundity.

Conclusions/Significance

This mechanism of inheritance implies that genes causing OP may evolve within sexual populations and remain undetected in the heterozygous state long before they get frequent enough to actually cause a transition to asexual reproduction. In this process, genetic variation at other loci might become linked to OP genes, leading to non-random associations between asexuality and other phenotypic traits.     

Plant Development and Reproduction: Advances and Prospectives

Plant development and reproduction research has been moving very rapidly in the past 10 years due to the progress of molecular biology, the analysis of various developmental mutants, and the cloning of the genes with important function in different stages of plant development. This review focuses on apical mefistem, flower initiation and development, fertilization and embryogenesis. Recent advances and the prospects in the future are discussed.     

Sexual Reproduction and Early Plant Growth of the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis), a Rare and Threatened Australian Conifer

The two known populations of the recently discovered rare andthreatened Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis Jones, Hill and Allen)consist of a small number of large multi-stemmed adult treesand small seedlings. Female and male cones are produced on adulttrees with pollen release occurring in spring (October–November).Seed cones mature 16–19 months later in late summer andautumn and appear to be produced annually. Approximately 10%of seed produced in two consecutive years was viable, 25% ofwhich was damaged by animals. Glasshouse studies showed thatseed germination at 25 °C (day)/16 °C (night) proceededslowly but steadily at approx. 4% per week until, after 6 months,88% of apparently viable seed had germinated with the remainderof the seed rotting. Growth of potted seedlings in this temperatureregime was continuous (after a lag period of 4–6 months)with the monopodial axis growing 0.05–0.25 m in the firstyear, 0.5–0.6 m in the second year and 0.25–0.35m in the third year, attaining a total height of 0.8–1.2m. Multiple orthotropic shoots developed on some plants at thisstage, some of which outgrew the primary shoot in height. Thediameter of the stem below the cotyledon (just above the soil)grew 3–7 mm in the first year, 10–14 mm in the secondand 15–20 mm in the third at which time it was 25–34mm. The average number of lateral branches produced was five–17in the first year, 25–36 in the second year and 24–30in the third year giving a total of 60–77. The establishmentof Wollemi Pine in the wild does not appear limited by the inherentviability of seed and potential for early growth of seedlings.Copyright 1999 Annals of Botany Company Wollemia nobilis, Wollemi Pine, Araucariaceae, conifer, rare and threatened plant, cone, seed, germination, seedling growth.     

Genetic Variation Underlying Sexual Behavior and Reproduction

Selection depletes additive genetic variation underlying traitsimportant in fitness. Intense mating competition and femalechoice may result in negligible heritability in males. Femalesoften appear to choose mates, however, suggesting genetic variationin males which is important to females. Evidence is reviewedon allelic substitutions, karyotypic variation, and especiallythe heritable variation of continuous traits involved in sexualbehavior and reproduction. Phenotypic variation in male matingspeed and courtship intensity, female mating and ovipositionbehavior, egg size and number, body size, parthenogenesis, andthe sex ratio generally have heritable variation. The maintenanceof genetic variation, and the meaning of heritability estimatesfor natural populations is considered.