Chinese scientists reveal novel mechanism of angiosperm self-incompatibility

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a widespread intraspecific reproductive barrier in flowering plants, a system for rejecting self-pollen to prevent seed set after self-pollination. In Solanaceae, Plantaginaceae, Rosaceae, and Rutaceae, the SI system is controlled by a single polymorphic S-locus that encodes the linked pollen factor S-locus F-box box proteins (SLFs) and pistil factor S-RNase components.