Sex expression and inbreeding depression in progeny derived from an extraordinary hermaphrodite of Salix subfragilis.

Background: An extraordinary hermaphrodite of dioecious willows provides us an opportunity to examine the inheritance of sex expression and the magnitude of inbreeding depression using a progeny assay of the hermaphrodite.

Results: We indentified 165 progeny of an open-pollinated hermaphrodite of Salix subfragilis as siblings selfed (Self) or crossed with another hermaphrodite (Cross_H) or a male (Cross_M) using microsatellite genotypes. There were more selfed progeny (110 in Self) than outcrossed progeny (31 in Cross_H and 24 in Cross_M), suggesting the absence of barriers to selfing in the maternal hermaphrodite. The sex ratio (female:male:hermaphrodite) of the progeny differed among the sibling groups (27:17:66 in Self, 3:16:12 in Cross_H and 9:8:7 in Cross_M). Nearly half of the selfed progeny were hermaphrodites, suggesting that an identical combination of parental alleles in progeny reproduced the hermaphroditism of the parent. We measured fitness components of growth (stem height and basal area), survival and fertility (pollen germination proportion, number of ovules and seed set). The magnitudes of inbreeding depression in growth and survival (0.29-0.70) were higher than those in fertility (0.00-0.16).

Conclusions: The findings suggest a genetic basis of extraordinary hermaphroditism and substantial inbreeding depression in survival and growth in the dieocious S. subfragilis.