Skip Navigation



AOBPreview published online on February 14, 2008
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcn017
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
101/6/833    most recent
mcn017v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pennington, P. D.
Right arrow Articles by Dickinson, H. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pennington, P. D.
Right arrow Articles by Dickinson, H. G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Pennington, P. D.
Right arrow Articles by Dickinson, H. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

When Genomes Collide: Aberrant Seed Development Following Maize Interploidy Crosses

Paul D. Pennington, Liliana M. Costa, Jose F. Gutierrez-Marcos{dagger}, Andy J. Greenland{ddagger} and Hugh G. Dickinson*

Department of Plant Sciences, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK

* For correspondence. E-mail hugh.dickinson{at}plants.ox.ac.uk

Received: 27 July 2007    Returned for revision: 14 September 2007    Accepted: 10 December 2007   

Background and Aims: The results of wide- or interploidy crosses in angiosperms are unpredictable and often lead to seed abortion. The consequences of reciprocal interploidy crosses have been explored in maize in detail, focusing on alterations to tissue domains in the maize endosperm, and changes in endosperm-specific gene expression.

Methods: Following reciprocal interploidy crosses between diploid and tetraploid maize lines, development of endosperm domains was studied using GUS reporter lines, and gene expression in resulting kernels was investigated using semi-quantitative RT-PCR on endosperms isolated at different stages of development.

Key Results: Reciprocal interploidy crosses result in very small, largely infertile seeds with defective endosperms. Seeds with maternal genomic excess are smaller than those with paternal genomic excess, their endosperms cellularize earlier and they accumulate significant quantities of starch. Endosperms from the reciprocal cross undergo an extended period of cell proliferation, and accumulate little starch. Analysis of reporter lines and gene expression studies confirm that functional domains of the endosperm are severely disrupted, and are modified differently according to the direction of the interploidy cross.

Conclusions: Interploidy crosses affect factors which regulate the balance between cell proliferation and cell differentiation within the endosperm. In particular, unbalanced crosses in maize affect transfer cell differentiation, and lead to the temporal deregulation of the ontogenic programme of endosperm development.

Key words: Fertilization, interploidy crosses, endosperm, maize, Zea mays, imprinting, epigenetics, gene dosage, seed development

{dagger} Current address: HRI Warwick, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV35 9EF, UK.

{ddagger} Current address: NIAB, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
N. Li and H. G. Dickinson
Balance between maternal and paternal alleles sets the timing of resource accumulation in the maize endosperm
Proc R Soc B, January 7, 2010; 277(1678): 3 - 10.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Plant Physiol.Home page
P. A. Sabelli and B. A. Larkins
The Development of Endosperm in Grasses
Plant Physiology, January 1, 2009; 149(1): 14 - 26.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ANN BOT (LOND)Home page
I. J. Leitch and M. F. Fay
Plant Genome Horizons: Michael Bennett's Contribution to Genome Research
Ann. Bot., April 1, 2008; 101(6): 737 - 746.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.