Breaking the interspecific reproductive barriers in Brassicaceae.

Flowering plants have evolved numerous intraspecific and interspecific reproductive barriers to avoid the inbreeding of depressing offspring and to maintain the integrity of the species. Within species, self-incompatibility (SI) is a widely utilized mechanism via rejecting self-pollen and accepting cross-compatible pollen. In the interspecific cross, pollen is unilaterally incompatible (UI) on SI pistils but unilaterally compatible (UC) on self-compatibility (SC) pistils ( Igic et al., 2008 Igic B. Lande R. Kohn J. Loss of self-incompatibility and its evolutionary consequences. Int. J. Plant Sci. 2008; 169: 93-104 Crossref Scopus (307) Google Scholar ).