Mendelian genetics of apomixis in plants. 2007

Peggy Ozias-Akins, and Peter J van Dijk
Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia Tifton Campus, Tifton, GA, USA. pozias@uga.edu

Apomixis, asexual reproduction through seeds, has the potential to revolutionize agriculture if its genetic basis can be elucidated. However, the genetic control of natural apomixis has remained obscure until quite recently, owing to all the complications of Mendelian genetics, such as epistatic gene interactions, components that are expressed sporophytically and gametophytically, expression modifiers, polyploidy, aneuploidy, segregation distortion, suppressed recombination, etc., that seem to have accumulated during the evolution of apomixis. In this review we show how molecular markers and superior phenotypic methods have been used to clarify the genetics of apomixis in monocots as well as dicots during the past 15 years. Many of the complexities in the genetics of apomixis are likely secondary and have evolved as a consequence of the reproductive process. New mapping techniques, such as comparative mapping, linkage disequilibrium mapping, and deletion mapping, and new high-throughput sequencing methods, will help to penetrate the core of apomixis chromosomal regions. If the evolutionary genetic load can be exposed and removed, the apomixis genes may be used in agriculture as a tool to fix elite genotypes.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D010944 Plants Multicellular, eukaryotic life forms of kingdom Plantae. Plants acquired chloroplasts by direct endosymbiosis of CYANOBACTERIA. They are characterized by a mainly photosynthetic mode of nutrition; essentially unlimited growth at localized regions of cell divisions (MERISTEMS); cellulose within cells providing rigidity; the absence of organs of locomotion; absence of nervous and sensory systems; and an alternation of haploid and diploid generations. It is a non-taxonomical term most often referring to LAND PLANTS. In broad sense it includes RHODOPHYTA and GLAUCOPHYTA along with VIRIDIPLANTAE. Plant
D012098 Reproduction The total process by which organisms produce offspring. (Stedman, 25th ed) Human Reproductive Index,Human Reproductive Indexes,Reproductive Period,Human Reproductive Indices,Index, Human Reproductive,Indexes, Human Reproductive,Indices, Human Reproductive,Period, Reproductive,Periods, Reproductive,Reproductive Index, Human,Reproductive Indices, Human,Reproductive Periods
D032461 Chromosomes, Plant Complex nucleoprotein structures which contain the genomic DNA and are part of the CELL NUCLEUS of PLANTS. Chromosome, Plant,Plant Chromosome,Plant Chromosomes

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