SEX DETERMINATION IN

PLANTS
Central University of Kerala
Dept of Genomic Science

Presented by,
Devarapalli Pratap
Key Words.
Angiosperms
Hermaphrodite
Monoecious
Dioecious
Stamens
Pistil
Sex chromosomes in plants
 Plants producing only female flowers have two X chromosomes that is
XX.

 Plants producing only male flowers have one X and one Y

chromosome that is XY.

 As in humans, the sex chromosomes are cytological distinct.

Sex Determination

 Sex determination is the developmental decision that occurs during the

plant life cycle which leads to the differentiation of two gametes male and
female.

 The variation in sex expression indicates that there are many sex-
determining mechanisms in plants which are emerged out during the
evolution.
Now we will go through different types of sex determination
In three types of plants

 Dioecious angiosperm - Silene latifolia

 Monoecious angiosperm – Zea maize
 Homosporous fern - Ceratopteris richardii,
Sex determination in Dioecious angiosperms
Silene latifolia-

 Early studies on S.latifolia showed that deletions of one arm of the Y chromosome
correlate with hermaphroditism, while deletions of the opposite arm correlate with
asexuality.

 Y-linked sex-determination by map-based isolation

Techniques done by Donnison et al. isolating male-specific DNA markers using
Representational difference analysis (RDA).

 These DNA markers attaches on the Y chromosome for the determination of the
genes of maleness

 Isolation of genes from the male and female flower buds where the expression of
Men-9 gene is observed in male flowers compared to female flowers.
Sex determination in Silene by DNA methylation
 Janousek et al. treated seeds with 5-azacytidine, a drug which demethylates DNA
when it has been incorporated into the DNA.

 This treatment inhibited the suppression of gynoecium development.

 21% of the treated XY male seeds developed as androhermaphrodite plants and

no gynohermaphroditic plants were observed.

 When 5-azacytidine-treated androhermaphroditic flowers were used as female

donors of this trait, none of the progeny seeds developed androhermaphroditic
flowers.

 5-azacytidine either induces inhibition of Y-linked female suppressing genes, or

activates autosomal female-promoting genes.
Sex determination in Monoecious angiosperms
Zea maize-

 Maize is a Monoecious plant that develops unisexual female and male flowers
within separate inflorescences of the same individual.

 The maize inflorescence has the male and female florets initially perfect and
become unisexual by a process of selective arrest.

 Abortion of pistils in staminate florets of the tassel, and of stamens in pistillate

florets of the ear takes place.

 Gibberellins promote pistil development and suppress stamen development in the

ear florets.
 Another two types of sex determining mutations, Silkless (sk1) and Tassel
seed(Ts)have been identified.

 In sk1plants, the pistils and stamens of both ear florets are aborted although
secondary sexual traits remain female, indicating that Sk1 is necessary for the
formation of a functional pistil in the upper ear floret [27]. In ts plants, functional
pistillate florets form in the tassel.

 Non allelic ts mutations :

- ts1and ts2 affect the primary sex characteristics
- ts4 and ts6 affect secondary sex characteristics

 The ts2 gene produces hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases which is involved in the

pistil abortion in tassels.

 Normally ts2 is epiststic over sk1 in ear, where as sk1 particularly suppresses ts2
in tassel.
Males

Females
Sex determination in Homosporous fern
Ceratopteris richardii-

 It has the potential to develop either male or hermaphroditic gametophytes.

 A Hormone, referred to as ACE - Antheridiogen Ceratopteris produces male

gametophytes.

 The epistatic interactions among these genes have been examined and a
genetic regulatory pathway controlling sex determination in Ceratopteris
was defined.

 Different types of genes participate in this pathway for the determination of

sexes.
Transformer gene (TRA) – Femaleness
Feminization gene (FEM1) – Maleness

TRA gene Increases MAN1 Decreases FEM1

ACE ACE signal transduction pathway

FEMALENESS

Increases HER and FEM1 genes

Decreases TRA MALENESS

Conclusion
By these we can say that the sex determination in plants was differentiated
into different mechanisms regarding to the different species based on the
hormones, biochemical agents and some regulatory pathways.

References
Cristina.J and Ann.B .,sex determination in plants., Current Opinion in Plant
Biology 1998, 1:68–72.
Stephen.L and Alejandro.C.U., Sex Determination in Flowering Plants., The
Plant Cell, Vol. 5, 1241-1251.
Thank You