Distribution of S-haplotypes and relationship with self-incompatibility in Brassica oleracea. 2. In varieties of broccoli and romanesco

The self-incompatibility (SI) character in Brassica is controlled by the S locus which contains several genes. One of them, the SLG (S Locus Glycoprotein) gene encodes a soluble glycoprotein expressed in the stigma. We used antibodies directed against SLGs and a combination of isoelectric focusing (IEF) and immunoblotting methods to identify S haplotypes, the allelic forms of the S locus, in commercial and open-pollinated varieties of broccoli and romanesco. We found 23 class-I and three class-II S haplotypes among the 199 plants analysed. Nevertheless, for a few plants, SLGs were not detected by the antibodies and these plants, designated Hw for “white pattern” haplotypes, were apparently homozygous at the S locus. Diallel crosses between Hw plants revealed the existence of four different Hw haplotypes. Several hypotheses are discussed to explain the non-recognition of the SLG products in these Hw haplotypes. The data of the present study were compared with those obtained in a previous investigation carried out on cauliflower. As in cauliflower, we observed a high frequency of the sx haplotype and a great variability in the strength of the SI phenotype for sx plants (in the homozygous or heterozygous state). For both broccoli and romanesco, about 50% of the plants presented a SI phenotype strong enough to be exploited for hybrid production. Received: 27 July 1998 / Accepted: 5 August 1998