Journal
JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH
Volume 128, Issue 6, Pages 933-939Publisher
SPRINGER JAPAN KK
DOI: 10.1007/s10265-015-0750-7
Keywords
Color polymorphism; Heterozygote advantage; Reward-bearing flowers; Overdominant selection; Sisyrinchium
Categories
Funding
- JSPS KAKENHI Grant [26650154]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [26650154] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Negative frequency-dependent selection derived from positive frequency-dependent foraging is the best-known selection force maintaining genetic polymorphism within a population. However, in flowering plants, positive frequency-dependent foraging by pollinators is expected to accelerate the loss of low-frequency morphs by conferring a fitness advantage to the common morph, leading to monomorphism. In Japan, a non-native species, Sisyrinchium sp., exhibits conspicuous flower color polymorphism within a population comprising both purple morphs (homozygous recessive) and white morphs (heterozygous or homozygous dominant). Here we quantified genotype-specific reproductive success in order to reveal the contribution of overdominant selection on the maintenance of flower color polymorphism in this species. In artificial pollination experiments using individuals with identified genotypes, female reproductive success was higher in the heterozygote than in either homozygote. The frequency of purple morphs in natural populations (ca. 31 %) is similar to the frequency predicted by overdominant selection (25 %). Our results suggest that overdominant selection contributes to the maintenance of color morphs in the natural population of this species.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available