The Scope for Postmating Sexual Selection in Plants

Jeanne Tonnabel (1) , Patrice David (1) , Tim Janicke (1, 2) , Arnaud Lehner (3) , Jean-Claude Mollet (3) , John Pannell (4) , Mathilde Dufay (1)

1 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
2 TU Dresden - Technische Universität Dresden = Dresden University of Technology
3 Glyco-MEV - Laboratoire de Glycobiologie et Matrice Extracellulaire Végétale
4 UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne

Sexual selection is known to shape plant traits that affect access to mates during the pollination phase, but it is less well understood to what extent it affects traits relevant to interactions between pollen and pistils after pollination. This is surprising, because both of the two key modes of sexual selection, male-male competition and female choice, could plausibly operate during pollen-pistil interactions where physical male-female contact occurs. Here, we consider how the key processes of sexual selection might affect traits involved in pollen-pistil interactions, including 'Fisherian runaway' and 'good-genes' models. We review aspects of the molecular and cellular biology of pollen-pistil interactions on which sexual selection could act and point to research that is needed to investigate them.

Keywords: Fisherian runaway; Genetic correlation; Good-genes model; Mate choice; Pollen-pistil interactions; Sexual selection

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Vegetal Biology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Cellular Biology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Cellular Biology; Subcellular Processes [q-bio.SC]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Cellular Biology; Cell Behavior [q-bio.CB]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Development Biology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Biochemistry [q-bio.BM]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Molecular biology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biotechnology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Vegetal Biology; Plant breeding; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Vegetal Biology; Phytopathology and phytopharmacy

Jeanne Tonnabel, Patrice David, Tim Janicke, Arnaud Lehner, Jean-Claude Mollet, et al.. The Scope for Postmating Sexual Selection in Plants. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2021, 36 (6), pp.556-567. ⟨10.1016/j.tree.2021.02.013⟩. ⟨hal-03190294⟩