The abundance of pollen coat small signaling proteins shows limited convergence between independent selfing transitions in Arabidopsis and Capsella.
İltaş Ö, Salomon L, Kovačik M, Čertner M, Talacko P, Harant K, Hafidh S, Lafon Placette C.
Plant Signaling
Every tomato, apple, and wildflower in your garden depends on pollen carrying just the right surface proteins to successfully fertilize — this research reveals how quickly those proteins can change when plants stop relying on pollinators and start fertilizing themselves.
Some plants evolved to fertilize themselves instead of relying on bees or wind to carry pollen between flowers. When scientists looked at the powdery coating on pollen grains in these self-fertilizing plants versus their cross-pollinating relatives, they found the coating gets thinner over time and certain proteins in it change. Surprisingly, even though similar proteins kept changing across unrelated plant groups, they didn't always change in the same direction — suggesting evolution is tinkering with the same toolkit but not following a single recipe.
Key Findings
Pollen coat thickness shrank significantly in older self-fertilizing lineages (thale cress and Capsella rubella) but not in a recently self-fertilizing Arabidopsis relative, suggesting coat reduction takes evolutionary time
Specific pollen coat proteins were shared across all three independent selfing-to-outcrossing comparisons more often than expected by chance, but their abundance increased in some species and decreased in others
The proteins most affected are structurally similar to pathogen-defense proteins but likely function in pollen-pistil communication, pointing to an understudied group of signaling molecules
chevron_right Technical Summary
When flowering plants switch from cross-pollination to self-pollination, their pollen coats thin out and certain surface proteins change — but these changes don't follow a single predictable evolutionary path across different plant lineages.
Abstract Preview
In plants, a key example of convergence is the repeated evolution of floral traits associated with the transition from outcrossing to self-fertilization, often resulting in the 'selfing syndrome' (...
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Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and Africa. Commonly found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land, it is generally considered a weed.