Investigating the Molecular Mechanism of the Self-incompatibility Response in Brassica

Abstract

Abstract The self-incompatibility response has been defined as the inability of a fertile hermaphrodite seed-plant to produce zygotes after self-pollination. Many members of the genus Brassica exhibit sporophytic self-incompatibility, rejection of self-pollen occurring on the stigma surface. Over the last 15 years a number of genes have been implicated in the self-incompatibility response in Brassica . These include both genes at the S locus, which are potentially involved in the recognition of self-pollen, and genes at unlinked loci, which are though to be involved in processes downstream of the recognition event such as signal transduction and self-pollen rejection. Here we review data from recent studies that have focused on determining the function of these genes, and their respective gene products, in the self-incompatibility response.