A century of sex determination in flowering plants

Abstract

Plants have evolved a diverse array of strategies for sexual reproduction, particularly through the modification of male and female organs at distinct points in development. The immense variation in sexual systems across the land plants provides a unique opportunity to study the genetic, epigenetic, phylogenetic, and ecological underpinnings of sex determination. Here, we reflect on more than a century of research into flowering plant sex determination, placing a particular focus on the foundational genetic and cytogenetic observations, experiments, and hypotheses. Building on the seminal work on the genetics of plant sex, modern comparative genomic analyses now allow us to address longstanding questions about sex determination and the origins of sex chromosomes.