The S receptor kinase determines self-incompatibility in Brassica stigma

Nature. 2000 Feb 24;403(6772):913-6. doi: 10.1038/35002628.

Abstract

The self-incompatibility possessed by Brassica is an intraspecific reproductive barrier by which the stigma rejects self-pollen but accepts non-self-pollen for fertilization. The molecular/biochemical bases of recognition and rejection have been intensively studied. Self-incompatibility in Brassica is sporophytically controlled by the polymorphic S locus. Two tightly linked polymorphic genes at the S locus, S receptor kinase gene (SRK) and S locus glycoprotein gene (SLG), are specifically expressed in the papillar cells of the stigma, and analyses of self-compatible lines of Brassica have suggested that together they control stigma function in self-incompatibility interactions. Here we show, by transforming self-incompatible plants of Brassica rapa with an SRK28 and an SLG28 transgene separately, that expression of SRK28 alone, but not SLG28 alone, conferred the ability to reject self (S28)-pollen on the transgenic plants. We also show that the ability of SRK28 to reject S28 pollen was enhanced by SLG28. We conclude that SRK alone determines S haplotype specificity of the stigma, and that SLG acts to promote a full manifestation of the self-incompatibility response.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brassica / enzymology
  • Brassica / physiology*
  • Glycoproteins / genetics
  • Glycoproteins / physiology
  • Haplotypes
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / physiology
  • Plant Structures / physiology
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Pollen / physiology
  • Protein Kinases / genetics
  • Protein Kinases / physiology*
  • Reproduction

Substances

  • Glycoproteins
  • Plant Proteins
  • self-incompatibility locus specific glycoprotein, Brassica
  • Protein Kinases
  • S-receptor kinase