Data from: Costs of selfing prevent the spread of a self-compatibility mutation that causes reproductive assurance
Data files
Dec 28, 2016 version files 557.13 KB
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2014+2015 Field data.xlsx
40.36 KB
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2014+2015 Greenhouse data.xlsx
38.70 KB
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Emasculation experiment.xlsx
17.27 KB
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Fragment Analysis 2014.xlsx
93.58 KB
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Fragment Analysis 2015.xlsx
107.61 KB
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Individual.h
2.53 KB
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Locus.h
2 KB
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main.cpp
14.47 KB
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Pollinator Data 2014.xlsx
66.25 KB
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Pollinator Data 2015.xlsx
130.20 KB
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S-locus Genotyping 2014.xlsx
17.60 KB
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S-locus genotyping 2015.xlsx
26.56 KB
Abstract
In flowering plants, shifts from outcrossing to partial or complete self-fertilization have occurred independently thousands of times, yet the underlying adaptive processes are difficult to discern. Selfing’s ability to provide reproductive assurance when pollination is uncertain is an oft-cited ecological explanation for its evolution, but this benefit may be outweighed by genetic costs diminishing its selective advantage over outcrossing. We directly studied the fitness effects of a self-compatibility (SC) mutation that was backcrossed into a self-incompatible (SI) population of Leavenworthia alabamica, illuminating the direction and magnitude of selection on the mating-system modifier. In array experiments conducted in two years, SC plants produced 17-26% more seed, but this advantage was counteracted by extensive seed discounting -- the replacement of high-quality outcrossed seeds by selfed seeds. Using a simple model and simulations, we demonstrate that SC mutations with these attributes rarely spread to high frequency in natural populations, unless inbreeding depression falls below a threshold value (0.57 ≤ threshold ≤ 0.70) in SI populations. A combination of heavy seed discounting and moderate inbreeding depression likely explains why outcrossing adaptations such as self-incompatibility are maintained generally, despite persistent input of selfing mutations and frequent limits on outcross seed production in nature.