The switch from an out-crossing to a self-fertilizing mating system is one of the most prevalent evolutionary trends in plant reproduction and is thought to have occurred repeatedly in flowering plants. However, little is known about the evolution of self-fertility and the genetic architecture of selfing. Here, we establish Arabidopsis thaliana as a model for genetic analysis of the switch to s...

Prunus fruit trees of the Rosaceae family exhibit S-RNase-based gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI), which enables pistils to reject self-pollen by suppressing pollen tube elongation. In other plant species with GSI, it has been shown that this suppression consists two steps: first, slowing down elongation in middle part style and second, complete arrest involving programmed cell death. To ...

Negative and positive selection procedures were used to establish whether the strong proliferative response of T cells to M1sa determinants is H-2 restricted. After negative selection of H-2 determinants in vivo, it was shown that T cells give high primary mixed lymphocyte reactions in vitro to M1sa determinants presented on H-2-incompatible stimulator cells. Other studies demonstrated that (a)...

ARC1 is a novel U-box protein required in the Brassica pistil for the rejection of self-incompatible pollen; it functions downstream of the S receptor kinase (SRK). Here, we show that ARC1 has E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and contains several motifs that influence its subcellular localization. ARC1 can shuttle between the nucleus, cytosol, and proteasome/COP9 signalosome (CSN) when expressed in...

We have previously demonstrated that increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ are triggered by the self-incompatibility (SI) response in incompatible Papaver rhoeas (the field poppy) pollen. However, one key question that has not been answered is whether extracellular Ca2+ may be involved. To address this question, we have used an ion-selective vibrating probe to measure changes in extracellular Ca2+ f...

Self-assembly of homogeneous components has the advantage of being a decentralised and highly parallel method for assembling multiple target structures, and is ideal for effective large-scale manufacturing. Yet assembly yield may be negatively affected by the formation of incompatible substructures that prevent the formation of complete target structures. In this work we present physical and th...