Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 377, No 1850

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Table of Contents

Theme issue ‘Sex determination and sex chromosome evolution in land plants’ compiled and edited by Susanne S. Renner and Niels A. Müller

The separation of male and female function onto separate individuals has evolved many times and is the norm in higher animals where it is typically regulated by sex chromosomes. In land plants, such sexual specialization, called dioecy, characterizes hops, wild grapes, Cannabis, date palms, asparagus, and many other crops and economically important trees, such as poplars. This theme issue presents a series of articles that synthesize and challenge the current understanding of how plants achieve dioecy. The articles deal with a broad set of species as well as overarching topics, such as analogies with animal sex determination systems, evolutionary pathways to dioecy, genetic consequences of dioecy, and the longevity of the two sexes.

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INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Sex determination and sex chromosome evolution in land plants

Susanne S. Renner
Niels A. Müller

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210210

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0210

Abstract
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References

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Linnaeus's very first opus, written when he was 22 years old, dealt with the analogy that exists between plants and animals in how they ‘propagate their species’, and a revised version with a plate depicting the union of male and female Mercurialis annua ...

ARTICLES

Review articles

Some thoughts about the words we use for thinking about sex chromosome evolution

Deborah Charlesworth

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210314

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0314

Abstract
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Sex chromosomes are familiar to most biologists since they first learned about genetics. However, research over the past 100 years has revealed that different organisms have evolved sex-determining systems independently. The differences in the ages of ...

Review articles

The contributions of Nettie Stevens to the field of sex chromosome biology

Sarah B. Carey
Laramie Aközbek
Alex Harkess

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210215

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0215

Abstract
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The early 1900s delivered many foundational discoveries in genetics, including re-discovery of Mendel's research and the chromosomal theory of inheritance. Following these insights, many focused their research on whether the development of separate sexes ...

Review articles

Some sexual consequences of being a plant

Quentin Cronk

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210213

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0213

Abstract
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Plants have characteristic features that affect the expression of sexual function, notably the existence of a haploid organism in the life cycle, and in their development, which is modular, iterative and environmentally reactive. For instance, primary ...

Review articles

Are plant and animal sex chromosomes really all that different?

Judith E. Mank

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210218

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0218

Abstract
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References

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Sex chromosomes in plants have often been contrasted with those in animals with the goal of identifying key differences that can be used to elucidate fundamental evolutionary properties. For example, the often homomorphic sex chromosomes in plants have ...

Review articles

The distribution of sexual function in the flowering plant: from monoecy to dioecy

Quentin Cronk

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210486

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0486

Abstract
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In flowering plants, male and female functions are usually closely associated in the same flowers, as predicted by resource allocation theory. However, the benefits of outbreeding can lead to unisexual flowers and the physiological control of their ...

Research articles

Evolution of the sex-determining region in Ginkgo biloba

Wei Gong
Dmitry A. Filatov

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210229

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0229

Abstract
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Sex chromosomes or sex-determining regions (SDR) have been discovered in many dioecious plant species, including the iconic ‘living fossil' Ginkgo biloba, though the location and size of the SDR in G. biloba remain contradictory. Here we resolve these ...

Research articles

The evolution of huge Y chromosomes in Coccinia grandis and its sister, Coccinia schimperi

Bohuslav Janousek
Roman Gogela
Vaclav Bacovsky
Susanne S. Renner

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210294

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0294

Abstract
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Microscopically dimorphic sex chromosomes in plants are rare, reducing our ability to study them. One difficulty has been the paucity of cultivatable species pairs for cytogenetic, genomic and experimental work. Here, we study the newly recognized sisters ...

Research articles

ARR17 controls dioecy in Populus by repressing B-class MADS-box gene expression

Ana P. Leite Montalvão
Birgit Kersten
Gihwan Kim
Matthias Fladung
Niels A. Müller

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210217

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0217

Abstract
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The number of dioecious species for which the genetic basis of sex determination has been resolved is rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms downstream of the sex determinants remain largely elusive. Here, by RNA-sequencing early-...

Research articles

Recombination landscape dimorphism and sex chromosome evolution in the dioecious plant Rumex hastatulus

Joanna L. Rifkin
Solomiya Hnatovska
Meng Yuan
Bianca M. Sacchi
Baharul I. Choudhury
Yunchen Gong
Pasi Rastas
Spencer C. H. Barrett
Stephen I. Wright

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210226

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0226

Abstract
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There is growing evidence from diverse taxa for sex differences in the genomic landscape of recombination, but the causes and consequences of these differences remain poorly understood. Strong recombination landscape dimorphism between the sexes could ...

Research articles

Recurrent allopolyploidization, Y-chromosome introgression and the evolution of sexual systems in the plant genus Mercurialis

J. F. Gerchen
P. Veltsos
J. R. Pannell

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210224

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0224

Abstract
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The plant genus Mercurialis includes dioecious, monoecious and androdioecious species (where males coexist with hermaphrodites). Its diversification involved reticulate evolution via hybridization and polyploidization. The Y chromosome of the diploid ...

Research articles

Adaptive changes of the autosomal part of the genome in a dioecious clade of Silene

Jitka Zluvova
Zdenek Kubat
Roman Hobza
Bohuslav Janousek

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210228

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0228

Abstract
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The genus Silene brings many opportunities for the study of various processes involved in the evolution of dioecy and young sex chromosomes. Here we focus on a dioecious clade in Silene subgenus Silene and closely related species. This study provides ...

Review articles

Dosage compensation evolution in plants: theories, controversies and mechanisms

Aline Muyle
Gabriel A. B. Marais
Václav Bačovský
Roman Hobza
Thomas Lenormand

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210222

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0222

Abstract
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In a minority of flowering plants, separate sexes are genetically determined by sex chromosomes. The Y chromosome has a non-recombining region that degenerates, causing a reduced expression of Y genes. In some species, the lower Y expression is ...

Research articles

Sex chromosomes, sex ratios and sex gaps in longevity in plants

Gabriel A. B. Marais
J-F. Lemaître

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210219

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0219

Abstract
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In animals, males and females can display markedly different longevity (also called sex gaps in longevity, SGL). Sex chromosomes contribute to establishing these SGLs. X-hemizygosity and toxicity of the Y chromosomes are two mechanisms that have been ...

Articles

Labile sex expression in angiosperm species with sex chromosomes

Jos Käfer
Marcos Méndez
Sylvain Mousset

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20210216

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0216

Abstract
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Here, we review the literature on sexual lability in dioecious angiosperm species with well-studied sex chromosomes. We distinguish three types of departures from strict dioecy, concerning either a minority of flowers in some individuals (leakiness) or ...

CORRECTIONS

Correction

Correction to ‘The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines’

Andrew Whiten
Dora Biro
Nicolas Bredeche
Ellen C. Garland
Simon Kirby

Published:21 March 2022Article ID:20220020

https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0020

This article corrects the following:
- The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines
  - Andrew Whiten
  - Dora Biro
  - Nicolas Bredeche
  - Ellen C. Garland
  - Simon Kirby
  - Volume 377Issue 1843Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
  - 13 December 2021

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Current Issue

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences cover image

09 May 2022

Volume 377Issue 1850

Editor-In-Chief

Professor John Pickett CBE FRS

About the cover

Cover image
Linnaeus's very first opus, written in 1729 when he was 22 years old, dealt with the analogy that exists between plants and animals in how they ‘propagate their species’, and a revised version (1746) with this plate depicting the union of male and female Mercurialis annua plants became a foundational text on the sexuality of plants. From Linnaeus' Sponsalia Plantarum used with permission of the Linnean Society of London.
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