Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Mar 31;257(5):92.
doi: 10.1007/s00425-023-04124-0.

Apomixis: oh, what a tangled web we have!

Terzaroli Niccolò  1 , Aaron W Anderson  2   3 , Albertini Emidio  2   4
Affiliations
Review

Apomixis: oh, what a tangled web we have!

Terzaroli Niccolò et al. Planta. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Apomixis is a complex evolutionary trait with many possible origins. Here we discuss various clues and causes, ultimately proposing a model harmonizing the three working hypotheses on the topic. Asexual reproduction through seeds, i.e., apomixis, is the holy grail of plant biology. Its implementation in modern breeding could be a game-changer for agriculture. It has the potential to generate clonal crops and maintain valuable complex genotypes and their associated heterotic traits without inbreeding depression. The genetic basis and origins of apomixis are still unclear. There are three central hypothesis for the development of apomixis that could be: i) a deviation from the sexual developmental program caused by an asynchronous development, ii) environmentally triggered through epigenetic regulations (a polyphenism of sex), iii) relying on one or more genes/alleles. Because of the ever-increasing complexity of the topic, the path toward a detailed understanding of the mechanisms underlying apomixis remains unclear. Here, we discuss the most recent advances in the evolution perspective of this multifaceted trait. We incorporated our understanding of the effect of endogenous effectors, such as small RNAs, epigenetic regulation, hormonal pathways, protein turnover, and cell wall modification in response to an upside stress. This can be either endogenous (hybridization or polyploidization) or exogenous environmental stress, mainly due to oxidative stress and the corresponding ROS (Reacting Oxygen Species) effectors. Finally, we graphically represented this tangled web.

Keywords: Environmental stresses; Epigenetics; Gene regulation; Hormones; Parthenogenesis; Reproduction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A hypothetical scheme for the regulation of apomixis. Endogenous and exogenous stresses can activate the epigenetic machine and/or the endogenous effectors such the phytohormones, the ubiquitination or the cell walls modification. (*) According to Mateo de Arias et al. (2020), reproductive genes could be replaced by metabolic homeostasis genes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Akiyama Y, Conner JA, Goel S, et al. High-resolution physical mapping in pennisetum squamulatum reveals extensive chromosomal heteromorphism of the genomic region associated with apomixis. Plant Physiol. 2004;134:1733–1741. doi: 10.1104/pp.103.033969. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akiyama Y, Hanna WW, Ozias-Akins P. High-resolution physical mapping reveals that the apospory-specific genomic region (ASGR) in Cenchrus ciliaris is located on a heterochromatic and hemizygous region of a single chromosome. Theor Appl Genet. 2005;111:1042–1051. doi: 10.1007/s00122-005-0020-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albertini E, Barcaccia G, Carman JG, Pupilli F. Did apomixis evolve from sex or was it the other way around? J Exp Bot. 2019;70:2951–2964. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz109. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albertini E, Marconi G, Barcaccia G, et al. Isolation of candidate genes for apomixis in Poa pratensis L. Plant Mol Biol. 2004;56:879–894. doi: 10.1007/s11103-004-5211-y. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albertini E, Marconi G, Reale L, et al. SERK and APOSTART. Candidate genes for apomixis in Poa pratensis. Plant Physiol. 2005;138:2185–2199. doi: 10.1104/pp.105.062059. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources