Systemic acquired resistance in moss: further evidence for conserved defense mechanisms in plants.

Vascular plants possess multiple mechanisms for defending themselves against pathogens. One well-characterized defense mechanism is systemic acquired resistance (SAR). In SAR, a plant detects the presence of a pathogen and transmits a signal throughout the plant, inducing changes in the expression of various pathogenesis-related (PR) genes.

Molecular and genetic analyses of four nonfunctional S haplotype variants derived from a common ancestral S haplotype identified in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.).

Tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) has an S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) system; however, individuals can be either self-incompatible (SI) or self-compatible (SC). Unlike the situation in the Solanaceae, where self-compatibility accompanying polyploidization is often due to the compatibility of heteroallelic pollen, the genotype-dependent loss of SI in sour cherry is due to the compatibility of pollen containing two nonfunctional S haplotypes. Sour cherry individuals with the S(4)S(6)S(36a)S(36b) genotype are predicted to be SC, as only pollen containing both nonfunctional S(36a) and S(36b) haplotypes would be SC.

The mutated S1-haplotype in sour cherry has an altered S-haplotype-specific F-box protein gene.

Gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) is an outcrossing mechanism in flowering plants that is genetically controlled by 2 separate genes located at the highly polymorphic S-locus, termed S-haplotype. This study characterizes a pollen part mutant of the S(1)-haplotype present in sour cherry (Rosaceae, Prunus cerasus L.) that contributes to the loss of GSI.

Molecular characterization of three non-functional S-haplotypes in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus).

Tetraploid sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) exhibits a genotype-dependent loss of gametophytic self-incompatibility that is caused by the accumulation of non-functional S-haplotypes with disrupted pistil component (stylar-S) and/or pollen component (pollen-S) function. Genetic studies using diverse sour cherry germplasm identified non-functional S-haplotypes for which an equivalent wild-type S-haplotype was present in sweet cherry (Prunus avium), a diploid progenitor of sour cherry. In all cases, the non-functional S-haplotype resulted from mutations affecting the stylar component S-RNase or Prunus pollen component S-haplotype-specific F-box protein (SFB).

Accumulation of nonfunctional S-haplotypes results in the breakdown of gametophytic self-incompatibility in tetraploid Prunus.

The transition from self-incompatibility (SI) to self-compatibility (SC) is regarded as one of the most prevalent transitions in Angiosperm evolution, having profound impacts on the genetic structure of populations. Yet, the identity and function of mutations that result in the breakdown of SI in nature are not well understood. This work provides the first detailed genetic description of the breakdown of S-RNase-mediated gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) in a polyploid species that exhibits genotype-dependent loss of SI.

The S haplotype-specific F-box protein gene, SFB, is defective in self-compatible haplotypes of Prunus avium and P. mume.

Many Prunus species, including sweet cherry and Japanese apricot, of the Rosaceae, display an S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI). The specificity of this outcrossing mechanism is determined by a minimum of two genes that are located in a multigene complex, termed the S locus, which controls the pistil and pollen specificities. SFB, a gene located in the S locus region, encodes an F-box protein that has appropriate S haplotype-specific variation to be the pollen determinant in the self-incompatibility reaction.

Self-incompatibility (S) locus region of the mutated S6-haplotype of sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) contains a functional pollen S allele and a non-functional pistil S allele.

This study characterizes the S6m-haplotype, a mutated S6-haplotype with an altered HindIII cut site, of sour cherry (Prunus cerasus). Inheritance and pollination studies of S-haplotypes from reciprocal crosses between 'Erdi Botermo' (EB; S4S6mSa) and 'Rheinische Schattenmorelle' (RS; S6SaSbSc) revealed that the S6m-haplotype conferred unilateral incompatibility with a non-functional pistil component and a functional pollen component. Expression analyses of S6-RNase and SFB6, a candidate gene for pollen-S, in the S6m-haplotype showed that SFB6 was transcribed in EB pollen, but S6-RNase was not transcribed in EB styles.