Abstract

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a prezygotic mechanism that prevents self-pollination in flowering plants by distinguishing between nonself- and self-pollen. It controls sexual reproduction by promoting outcrossing and avoiding inbreeding. For thousands of years, this trait has been effectively exploited by breeders and growers as a tool to manipulate domesticated crops. However, efforts to spell out the molecular features of SI have begun only during the past thirty years. For breeders that need to produce homozygous lines, SI is undesirable. Moreover, in fruit crops, SI hinders the production of true to type plants and high-quality fruits with uniform traits because SI favors outcrossing. Numerous techniques have been developed to break down SI. Here, we review the current understanding of different molecular SI systems and pinpoint different physiological and molecular techniques used to break down SI. We also discuss evolutionary events that led to the transition from SI to self-compatibility (SC).

摘要

自交不亲和性（SI）是一种通过区分非自花花粉和自花花粉来防止开花植物自花授粉的前合子机制。它通过促进异交和避免近亲繁殖来控制有性繁殖。数千年来，育种者和种植者有效地利用这一特性作为操纵驯化作物的工具。然而，阐明 SI 分子特征的努力只是在过去 30 年才开始。对于需要产生纯合系的育种者，SI 是不可取的。此外，在水果作物中，SI 阻碍了真正类型植物和具有统一性状的优质水果的生产，因为 SI 有利于异交。已经开发了许多技术来分解 SI。这里，我们回顾了当前对不同分子 SI 系统的理解，并确定了用于分解 SI 的不同生理和分子技术。我们还讨论了导致从 SI 过渡到自兼容 (SC) 的进化事件。