Review Lecture Self-incompatibility: phenomenology and physiology

Abstract

Angiosperm self-incompatibility systems have been attracting increasing attention in recent years, both because of their importance in practical plant breeding and in acknowledgement of their considerable intrinsic interest as examples of cellular interaction and recognition. Progress has been made in analysing the genetics of complex multi-locus systems in certain primitive families, and the inhibition reaction itself has been more fully characterized in certain species. The review deals mainly with homomorphic, gametophytic self-incompatibility systems, concentrating on aspects of pollen-tube growth and pistil function that appear to play key roles in the discrimination between compatible and incompatible pollen. Various implications of a recently proposed hypothesis concerning the operation of gametophytic systems are also discussed.