Bengt Olle Bengtsson
Professor emeritus
Transmission rates and phenotypic effects of mitochondrial plasmids and cytotypes in Silene vulgaris
Author
Summary, in English
We investigated the transmission properties and the phenotypic effects of two mitochondrial plasmids in a population of the bladder campion, Silene vulgaris. In reciprocal crosses between plasmid-free and plasmid-carrying plants, no cases of paternal transmission or loss during maternal transmission were recorded. Neither was any transmission via pollen observed when plasmid-carrying plants of S, vulgaris were used to pollinate plasmid-free plants of the closely related species Silene uniflora. The phenotypic effects of the plasmids were investigated by comparing germination rate, early growth properties, and the gender of plants grown from seeds with and without plasmids. A significant association between plasmid status, on the one hand, and germination propensity and offspring gender, on the other, was found. However, because all plants carrying plasmids in the experiment shared the same cytoplasmic background, the exact contribution of the plasmid to the phenotypic variation could not be determined. Taken together, our experiments show that in S. vulgaris the mt-plasmids are not currently involved in any strong genetic conflict, but that they evolve in close association with their mitochondrial host.
Department/s
- Department of Biology
- MEMEG
- Evolutionary Genetics
Publishing year
2002
Language
English
Pages
1586-1591
Publication/Series
Evolution
Volume
56
Issue
8
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Evolutionary Biology
Keywords
- mitochondrial plasmids
- cytotypes
- phenotypic effects
- transmission rules
- Silene vulgaris
- sexual development
- genetic conflicts
Status
Published
Research group
- Evolutionary Genetics
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1558-5646