TY - JOUR
T1 - One Hundred Ways to Invent the Sexes
T2 - Theoretical and Observed Paths to Dioecy in Plants
AU - Henry, Isabelle M.
AU - Akagi, Takashi
AU - Tao, Ryutaro
AU - Comai, Luca
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (to T.A.); by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A) (no. 26712005 to T.A.) and a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (no. 15K14654 to T.A. and no. 26660025 to R.T.) from the Japan Society
Funding Information:
for the Promotion of Science; and by the National Science Foundation IOS award under grant no. 1457230 (to I.M.H. and L.C.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/4/29
Y1 - 2018/4/29
N2 - Dioecy, the presence of male and female flowers on separate individuals, is both widespread and uncommon within flowering plants, with only a few percent of dioecious species spread across most major phylogenetic taxa. It is therefore safe to assume that dioecy evolved independently in these different groups, which allows us to ask questions regarding the molecular and developmental mechanisms underlying these independent transitions to dioecy. We start this review by examining the problem from the standpoint of a genetic engineer trying to develop dioecy, discuss various potential solutions, and compare them to models proposed in the past and based on genetic and evolutionary considerations. Next, we present recent information regarding candidate sex determinants in three species, acquired using newly established genomic approaches. Although such specific information is still scarce, it is slowly becoming apparent that various genes or pathways can be altered to evolve dioecy.
AB - Dioecy, the presence of male and female flowers on separate individuals, is both widespread and uncommon within flowering plants, with only a few percent of dioecious species spread across most major phylogenetic taxa. It is therefore safe to assume that dioecy evolved independently in these different groups, which allows us to ask questions regarding the molecular and developmental mechanisms underlying these independent transitions to dioecy. We start this review by examining the problem from the standpoint of a genetic engineer trying to develop dioecy, discuss various potential solutions, and compare them to models proposed in the past and based on genetic and evolutionary considerations. Next, we present recent information regarding candidate sex determinants in three species, acquired using newly established genomic approaches. Although such specific information is still scarce, it is slowly becoming apparent that various genes or pathways can be altered to evolve dioecy.
KW - Dioecy
KW - Flower development
KW - Genomics
KW - Sex chromosomes
KW - Sex determination
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040615
DO - 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040615
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29719167
AN - SCOPUS:85046763904
VL - 69
SP - 553
EP - 575
JO - Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology
JF - Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology
SN - 1040-2519
ER -