Petal micromorphology and its relationship to pollination

Costa, Vanessa Bastos Simões da; Pimentel, Rejane Magalhães de Mendonça; Chagas, Maria das Graças Santos das; Alves, Gilberto Dias; Castro, Cibele Cardoso

doi:10.1111/plb.12523

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…Despite the history of studies proposing that slippery plant surfaces may deter unwanted floral visitors, this function has not been explicitly tested by field experiments. Previous studies were based either on behavioural experiment in artificial condition (Whitney et al 2009a;Alcorn et al 2012;Bräuer et al 2017;Gorb and Gorb 2019), simple observation (Kerner von Marilaun 1878; Harley 1991) or comparative analysis (Ojeda et al 2012(Ojeda et al , 2016Papiorek et al 2014;Costa et al 2017;Coiro and Barone Lumaga 2018;Kraaij and Kooi 2019). To our knowledge, this is the first study to experimentally demonstrate that slippery plant surfaces prevent floral access by .…”

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confidence: 88%

Slippery flowers as a mechanism of defence against nectar-thieving ants

Takeda

Kadokawa

Kawakita

2020

Preprint

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-Background and Aims 2The great diversity of floral characters among animal-pollinated plants is commonly understood 3 as the result of coevolutionary interactions between plants and pollinators. Floral antagonists, 4 such as nectar thieves, also have the potential to exert selection on floral characters, but 5 adaptation against floral antagonists has attracted comparatively little attention. We found that the 6 corollas of hornet-pollinated Codonopsis lanceolata (Campanulaceae) and the tepals of 7 bee-pollinated Fritillaria koidzumiana (Liliaceae) are slippery to nectar-thieving ants living in the 8 plant's habitat; because the flowers of both species have exposed nectaries, slippery perianths 9 may function as a defence against nectar-thieving ants. 10 -Methods 11 We conducted a behavioural experiment and observed perianth surface microstructure by 12 scanning electron microscopy to investigate the mechanism of slipperiness. Field experiments 13 were conducted to test whether slippery perianths prevent floral entry by ants, and whether ant 14 presence inside flowers affects pollination. 15 -Key Results 16 Scanning electron microscopy observations indicated that the slippery surfaces were coated with 17 epicuticular wax crystals. The perianths lost their slipperiness when wiped with hexane. Artificial 18 3 bridging of the slippery surfaces using non-slippery materials allowed ants to enter flowers more 1 frequently. Experimental introduction of live ants to the Codonopsis flowers evicted hornet 2 pollinators and shortened the duration of pollinator visits. However, no differences were found in 3 the fruit or seed sets of flowers with and without ants. 4 -Conclusions 5 Slippery perianths, most likely based on epicuticular wax crystals, prevent floral entry by ants 6 that negatively affect pollinator behaviour. Experimental evidence of floral defence based on 7 slippery surfaces is rare, but such a mode of defence may be widespread amongst flowering 8 plants. 9

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confidence: 88%

Slippery flowers as a mechanism of defence against nectar-thieving ants

Takeda

Kadokawa

Kawakita

2020

Preprint

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“…Petal, the most conspicuous organ of the flower, plays a critical role in maximizing visual and olfactory signals to attract pollinators for pollen transfer, which is a key step of angiosperm reproduction (Costa et al , ). Petals degenerate after pollination or undergo age‐induced senescence after flower opening in the case of no pollination (Shibuya et al , ).…”

Section: The Roles Of Autophagy In Key Processes Of Plant Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting autophagy in sexual reproduction: a plant perspective

Mei

et al. 2020

New Phytologist

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Summary The key process of sexual reproduction is the successful fusion of the sperm and egg cell. Distinct from dynamic and flagellated animal sperm cells, higher flowering plant sperm cells are immotile. Therefore, plants have evolved a novel reproductive system to achieve fertilization and generate progenies. Plant sexual reproduction consists of multiple steps, mainly including gametophyte development, pollen–pistil recognition, pollen germination, double fertilization and postfertilization. During reproduction, active production, consumption and recycling of cellular components and energy are critically required to achieve fertilization. However, the underlying machinery of cellular degradation and turnover remains largely unexplored. Autophagy, the major catabolic pathway in eukaryotic cells, participates in regulating multiple aspects of plant activities, including abiotic and biotic stress resistance, pathogen response, senescence, nutrient remobilization and plant development. Nevertheless, a key unanswered question is how autophagy regulates plant fertilization and reproduction. Here, we focus on comparing and contrasting autophagy in several key reproductive processes of plant and animal systems to feature important distinctions and highlight future research directions of autophagy in angiosperm reproduction. We further discuss the potential crosstalk between autophagy and programmed cell death, which are often considered as two disconnected events in plant sexual reproduction.

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“…Such traits have been shown to be associated with pollination mode at large taxonomic scales (Costa et al . ) as well as among closely related species (Ojeda et al . ), and pollinator shifts have been shown to correlate with shifts in petal micromorphology in an entire biogeographic region (Ojeda et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the importance of conical-papillate cells on the abaxial side of the petals in the interaction with pollinators was first shown in the mixta mutants of Antirrhinum majus L. (Whitney et al 2009). Such traits have been shown to be associated with pollination mode at large taxonomic scales (Costa et al 2017) as well as among closely related species (Ojeda et al 2012), and pollinator shifts have been shown to correlate with shifts in petal micromorphology in an entire biogeographic region (Ojeda et al 2016). These and other micromorphological traits of the petals have been linked with pollinator attraction or interaction by means of physical effects, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling historical signal and pollinator selection on the micromorphology of flowers: an example from the floral epidermis of the Nymphaeaceae

Coiro

Lumaga

2018

Plant Biol J

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The family Nymphaeaceae includes most of the diversity among the ANA-grade angiosperms. Among the species of this family, floral structures and pollination strategies vary. The genus Victoria, as well as subgenera Lotos and Hydrocallis in Nymphaea, present night-blooming, scented flowers pollinated by scarab beetles. Such similar pollination strategies have led to macromorphological similarities among the flowers of these species, which could be interpreted as homologies or convergences based on different phylogenetic hypotheses about the relationships of these groups. We employed scanning electron microscopy of floral epidermis for seven species of the Nymphaeaceae with contrasting pollination biology to identify the main characters of the floral organs and the potential homologous nature of the structures involved in pollinator attraction. Moreover, we used transmission electron microscopy to observe ultrastructure of papillate-conical epidermis in the stamen of Victoria cruziana. We then tested the phylogenetic or ecological distribution of these traits using both consensus network approaches and ancestral state reconstruction on fixed phylogenies. Our results show that the night-blooming flowers present different specialisations in their epidermis, with V. cruziana presenting the most elaborate floral anatomy. We also identify for the first time the presence of conical-papillate cells in the order Nymphaeales. The epidermal characters tend to reflect phylogenetic relationships more than convergence due to pollinator selection. These results point to an independent and parallel evolution of scarab pollination in Nymphaeaceae and demonstrate the promise of floral anatomy as a phylogenetic marker. Moreover, they indicate a degree of sophistication in the anatomical basis of cantharophilous flowers in the Nymphaeales that diverges from the most simplistic views of floral evolution in the angiosperms.

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Petal micromorphology and its relationship to pollination

Cited by 22 publications

References 46 publications

Slippery flowers as a mechanism of defence against nectar-thieving ants

Slippery flowers as a mechanism of defence against nectar-thieving ants

Boosting autophagy in sexual reproduction: a plant perspective

Disentangling historical signal and pollinator selection on the micromorphology of flowers: an example from the floral epidermis of the Nymphaeaceae

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