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Science 5 July 1991:
Vol. 253. no. 5015, pp. 66 - 68
DOI: 10.1126/science.253.5015.66
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Articles

Evolution of Pollen Morphology

ISABELLE DAJOZ 1, IRÈNE TILL-BOTTRAUD 1, and PIERRE-HENRI GOUYON 1

1 Laboratoire d'Evolution et Systématique des Végétaux, Bâtiment 362, Universitè Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France

Over evolutionary time, the morphology of angiosperm pollen has evolved toward an increasing number of apertures, among other things. From a neo-Darwinian point of view, this means that (i) some polymorphism for aperture number must exist and (ii) there must be some fitness increase associated with increasing the aperture number. Pollen types with different aperture numbers often occur in the same species. Such is the case in Viola diversifolia. Comparison of pollen with three and four apertures in this species showed that four-apertured grains germinated faster than three-apertured ones but that the four-apertured ones experienced other disadvantages. These results obtained on the gametophyte can be interpreted in terms of strategies of the sporophyte

Submitted on April 10, 1991
Accepted on April 30, 1991


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Unique Pollen Morphology of Duparquetia (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae): Developmental Evidence of Aperture Orientation Using Confocal Microscopy.
H. BANKS, S. FEIST-BURKHART, and B. KLITGAARD (2006)
Ann. Bot. 98, 107-115
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolutionary Ecology of the Prezygotic Stage.
G. Bernasconi, T.-L. Ashman, T. R. Birkhead, J. D. D. Bishop, U. Grossniklaus, E. Kubli, D. L. Marshall, B. Schmid, I. Skogsmyr, R. R. Snook, et al. (2004)
Science 303, 971-975
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Correlated variation in microtubule distribution, callose deposition during male post-meiotic cytokinesis, and pollen aperture number across Nicotiana species (Solanaceae).
A. Ressayre, C. Raquin, A. Mignot, B. Godelle, and P.-H. Gouyon (2002)
Am. J. Botany 89, 393-400
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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