Plant & Animal Genomes XV Conference

January 13-17, 2007
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Apomixis And Sexual Reproduction. Are They As Different As People Think?

Emidio Albertini¹ , Timothy Sharbel²

¹  Plant Biology and Agroenvironmental and Animal Biotechnology Department, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 64, 06121 Perugia, Italy

²  Apomixis Research Group Dept. of Cytogenetics and Genome Analysis Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Corrensstraße 3, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany

“Sex is the queen of problems in evolutionary biology. Perhaps no other natural phenomenon has
aroused so much interest; certainly none has caused as much confusion.” This sentence, quoted from Graham Bell’s important book “The Masterpiece of Nature” more than 20 years ago, can still be applied to our knowledge of the evolution of sexual and asexual reproduction. What costs and benefits lead to the maintenance of sexuality under natural selection in biological populations? The easiest answer is that sex allows genotype rearrangement, diversification, and adaptation. But even the most dogmatic interpretation of the meaning of sex can be challenged and apomixis can be a phenomenon that questions the necessity of sex. Defining the nature and genetic control of apomixis may be crucial for both understanding the trait itself and better illustrating the meaning of sexuality. Although we have a solid documentation of the types of apomixis, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to its expression is still in its infancy. It was hypothesized that genes isolated in model species would be important for the study of apomixis. So far a number of interesting ones have been isolated form Arabidopsis mutants as well as from comparative gene expression studies carried out in apomicts. Few studies have analysed genes identified from sexual species in apomictic ones, and vice versa. This year’s workshop topic is to bring together those working in these two fields in order to stimulate information exchange and to shed more light on the fascinating world of apomixis.