Species Selection Maintains Self-Incompatibility

Identifying traits that affect rates of speciation and extinction and, hence, explain differences in species diversity among clades is a major goal of evolutionary biology. Detecting such traits is especially difficult when they undergo frequent transitions between states. Self-incompatibility, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2010-10, Vol.330 (6003), p.493-495
Main Authors: Goldberg, Emma E, Kohn, Joshua R, Lande, Russell, Robertson, Kelly A, Smith, Stephen A, Igić, Boris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Biological taxonomies
Biology
Cladding
Crop diversification
Evolution
Evolutionary
Evolutionary biology
Evolutionary genetics
Extinct species
Extinction
Fertilization - physiology
Flowering
Flowering plants
Flowers & plants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic Speciation
Genetic Variation
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Inbreeding
Offsets
Phylogeny
Plant reproduction
Plants
Plants (organisms)
Selection, Genetic
Solanaceae - classification
Solanaceae - genetics
Solanaceae - physiology
Speciation
Species
Species extinction
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Summary:Identifying traits that affect rates of speciation and extinction and, hence, explain differences in species diversity among clades is a major goal of evolutionary biology. Detecting such traits is especially difficult when they undergo frequent transitions between states. Self-incompatibility, the ability of hermaphrodites to enforce outcrossing, is frequently lost in flowering plants, enabling self-fertilization. We show, however, that in the nightshade plant family (Solanaceae), species with functional self-incompatibility diversify at a significantly higher rate than those without it. The apparent short-term advantages of potentially self-fertilizing individuals are therefore offset by strong species selection, which favors obligate outcrossing.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1194513