Genetics of male sterility in gynodioecious Plantago coronopus. II. Nuclear genetic variation

Abstract

Inheritance of male sterility was studied in the gynodioecious species Plantago coronopus using five plants and their descendants from an area of ~50 m2 from each of four locations. In each location, crosses between these five plants yielded the entire array of possible sex phenotypes. Both nuclear and cytoplasmic genes were involved. Emphasis is placed on the nuclear (restorer) genetics of two cytoplasmic types. For both types, multiple interacting nuclear genes were demonstrated. These genes carried either dominant or recessive restorer alleles. The exact number of genes involved could not be determined, because different genetic models could be proposed for each location and no common genetic solution could be given. At least five genes, three with dominant and two with recessive restorer allele action, were involved with both cytoplasmic types. Segregation patterns of partially male sterile plants suggested that they are due to incomplete dominance at restorer loci. Restorer genes interact in different ways. In most instances models with independent restorer gene action were sufficient to explain the crossing results. However, for one case we propose a model with epistatic restorer gene action. There was a consistent difference in the segregation of male sterility between plants from the two cytoplasmic types. Hermaphrodites of cytoplasmic type 2 hardly segregated male steriles, in contrast to plants with cytoplasmic type 1.