Skip Navigation


Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on August 14, 2008
Journal of Heredity 2008 99(6):657-660; doi:10.1093/jhered/esn063
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
99/6/657    most recent
esn063v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vieira, J.
Right arrow Articles by Vieira, C. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vieira, J.
Right arrow Articles by Vieira, C. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The American Genetic Association. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Brief Communications

The Prunus Self-Incompatibility Locus (S locus) Is Seldom Rearranged

Jorge Vieira, Raquel A. M. Santos, Tsuyoshi Habu, Ryutaro Tao, and Cristina P. Vieira

Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal (Vieira, Santos, and Vieira); Experimental Farm, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Takatsuki 569-0096, Japan (Habu); Laboratory of Pomology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan (Tao)

Address correspondence to Cristina P. Vieira, Molecular Evolution Group, IBMC, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal, or e-mail: cgvieira{at}ibmc.up.pt.

Self-incompatibility enables flowering plants to discriminate between self- and non-selfpollen. In Prunus, the 2 genes determining specificity are the S-RNase (the female determinant that is a glycoprotein with ribonuclease activity) and the SFB (the male determinant, a protein with an F-box motif). In all Prunus S haplotypes characterized so far, with the exception of Prunus armeniaca S2 haplotype, the 2 genes have opposite transcription orientations. Nevertheless, the relative transcription orientation observed in P. armeniaca S2 haplotype has been postulated to be the one present in all S haplotypes from this species. We show that this is not the case by demonstrating that that the relative transcription orientation of the pollen and pistil genes of the P. armeniaca S17 haplotype is that which is commonly found in Prunus. Using a phylogenetic approach, we show that the relative transcription orientation of the S-RNase and SFB genes is seldom changed (less than once every 380 million years). This contrasts with the Brassica sporophytic S locus where chromosomal rearrangements are often observed in the region between the pollen and pistil genes.

Key Words: Prunus • self-incompatibility • SFB • S-RNase • transcription orientation

Corresponding Editor: Jim Hamrick

Received January 15, 2008
Accepted July 22, 2008


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.