Yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) Displays Prezygotic and Postzygotic Barriers to Prevent Autogamy in Monoecious Cultivars

Publication type: 
Article
Author(s): 
Narcisse Denadi, Mounirou Yolou, Ayènan Eric Dadonougbo, Jeanne Zoundjihékpon, Alexandre Dansi, Christophe Gandonou, and Muriel Quinet
Citation: 
Denadi, N.; Yolou, M.; Dadonougbo, A.E.; Zoundjihékpon, J.; Dansi, A.; Gandonou, C.; Quinet, M. Yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) Displays Prezygotic and Postzygotic Barriers to Prevent Autogamy in Monoecious Cultivars. Agronomy 2022, 12, 872. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040872.
Description: 
Cultivated yam (D. rotundata) is a staple tuber crop in West Africa whose sexual reproduction control remains largely unknown despite its importance for plant breeding programs. In this paper, we compared self-pollination, intracultivar cross-pollination and intercultivar cross-pollination in three monoecious cultivars (Amoula, Heapala and Yassi). Results showed that pollen viability (49%) and stigma receptivity (40%) were similar in monoecious and dioecious plants, suggesting that autogamy could occur in monoecious plants. However, fruit and seed sets were significantly lower after self-pollination compared to cross-pollination. Overall, autogamy reached 11% and pollen lability was almost zero (<1%). The low percentage of pollen grains germinating on the stigma (37%) and pollen tubes reaching the ovules (25%) after self-pollination partly explained the low seed set. Strong inbreeding depression was observed after self-pollination and almost all fruits and about 75% of the seeds resulting from self-pollination showed malformations. Seed germination was also 20 times lower after self-pollination compared to cross-pollination. Sexual reproduction remained low in D. rotundata even after cross-pollination as fruit and seed set did not exceed 18% and 13% respectively. Moreover, comparison between intracultivar cross-pollination and self-pollination revealed intravarietal genetic diversity inside the analyzed yam cultivars. Overall, our results showed that D. rotundata has a very low tolerance to autogamy in monoecious cultivars and has developed pre- and postzygotic mechanisms to limit selfing.
Year of publication : 
2022
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Magazine published in: 
Agronomy