Self-Incompatibility in Flowering Plants: Evolution, Diversity, and Mechanisms

Great progress has been made in our understanding of pollen-pistil interactions and self-incompatibility (SI) in flowering plants in the last few decades. This book covers a broad spectrum of research into SI, with accounts by internationally renowned scientists. It comprises two sections: Evolution and Population Genetics of SI, Molecular and Cell Biology of SI Systems. The reader will gain an insight into the diversity and complexity of these polymorphic cell-cell recognition and rejection systems. Heteromorphic and homomorphic SI systems and our current understanding of the evolution and phylogeny of these systems, based on the most recent molecular sequence data, are covered. Further, the book presents major advances in our knowledge of the pistil and pollen S-determinants and other unlinked components involved in SI, as well as the apparently diverse cellular regulatory mechanisms utilised to ensure inhibition of “self” pollen.

Table of Contents:
Evolution and Population Genetics of Self-Incompatibility.- New Insights on Heterostyly: Comparative Biology, Ecology and Genetics.- Genetic and Environmental Causes and Evolutionary Consequences of Variations in Self-Fertility in Self Incompatible Species.- On the Evolutionary Modification of Self-Incompatibility: Implications of Partial Clonality for Allelic Diversity and Genealogical Structure.- Evolution and Phylogeny of Self-Incompatibility Systems in Angiosperms.- What Genealogies of S-alleles Tell Us.- Self-Incompatibility and Evolution of Mating Systems in the Brassicaceae.- Molecular and Cell Biology of Self-Incompatibility Systems.- Milestones Identifying Self-Incompatibility Genes in Brassica Species: From Old Stories to New Findings.- ‘Self’ Pollen Rejection Through the Intersection of Two Cellular Pathways in the Brassicaceae: Self-Incompatibility and the Compatible Pollen Response.- Molecular Biology Of S-Rnase-Based Self-Incompatibility.- Comparing Models For S-Rnase-Based Self-Incompatibility.- Self-Incompatibility in Papaver Rhoeas: Progress in Understanding Mechanisms Involved in Regulating Self-Incompatibility in Papaver.- Molecular Genetics of Sporophytic Self-Incompatibility in Ipomoea, aMember of the Convolvulaceae.- Self-Incompatibility in the Grasses.- Heteromorphic Self-Incompatibility In Primula: Twenty-First Century Tools Promise To Unravel A Classic Nineteenth Century Model System.

Review :
From the reviews: "Self-Incompatibility in Flowering Plants serves as a reference to the latest advances in self-incompatibility (SI) research. … The book can serve varied audience - an ecologist, evolutionary biologist, molecular biologist or cell biologist. It would also help some-one trying to gain a peek into all of these different areas … . The book overall is a good summary of the recent advances in SI and can form an immediate reference on topics … ." (H.S. Arathi, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 55 (3), 2009) “A book about progress in understanding self-incompatibility is a good idea. This topic is a classic, with importance for several different areas within biology, ranging from population and evolutionary genetics to cell biology … . This book, sensibly, contains chapters from experts in different aspects of self-incompatibility. … The book is … most suitable for researchers. Each chapter … provides a good account of the current information (often in great detail).” (Deborah Charlesworth, Annals of Botany, Vol. 105 (1), January, 2010) “It covers an enormous breadth of studies on various aspects of self-incompatibility (SI). … The book is without a doubt highly welcomed because it nicely shows the state-of-the-art in a time of rapid progress in the field, caused mostly by an explosive development of molecular tools. … can be recommended to theoretical and population geneticists, evolutionary biologists, molecular geneticists, cell biologists as well as ecologists.” (Jindřich Chrtek, Folia Geobotanica, Vol. 44, November, 2009)