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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Mar 15;91(6):1992–1997. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.6.1992

Self-incompatibility: how plants avoid illegitimate offspring.

D P Matton 1, N Nass 1, A E Clarke 1, E Newbigin 1
PMCID: PMC43295  PMID: 11607465

Abstract

In some families of flowering plants, a single self-incompatibility (S) locus prevents the fertilization of flowers by pollen from the same plant. Self-incompatibility of this type involves the interaction of molecules produced by the S locus in pollen with those present in the female tissues (pistil). Until recently, the pistil products of the S locus were known in only two families, the Brassicaceae (which includes the cabbages and mustards) and Solanaceae (potatoes and tomatoes). A paper in this issue of the Proceedings describes the molecules associated with self-incompatibility in a third family, the Papaveraceae (poppies). We review current research on self-incompatibility in these three families and discuss the implications of the latest findings in poppy on the likely evolution of self-incompatibility in flowering plants. We also compare research into self-incompatibility with recent progress in understanding the mechanisms by which plants overcome infection by certain pathogens.

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1992

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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