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Identification of diploid endosperm in an early angiosperm lineage

Nature volume 415, pages 522–526 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

In flowering plants, the developmental and genetic basis for the establishment of an embryo-nourishing tissue differs from all other lineages of seed plants. Among extant nonflowering seed plants (conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, Gnetales), a maternally derived haploid tissue (female gametophyte) is responsible for the acquisition of nutrients from the maternal diploid plant, and the ultimate provisioning of the embryo. In flowering plants, a second fertilization event, contemporaneous with the fusion of sperm and egg to yield a zygote, initiates a genetically biparental and typically triploid embryo-nourishing tissue called endosperm. For over a century, triploid biparental endosperm has been viewed as the ancestral condition in extant flowering plants1,2,3. Here we report diploid biparental endosperm in Nuphar polysepalum, a basal angiosperm. We show that diploid endosperms are common among early angiosperm lineages and may represent the ancestral condition among flowering plants. If diploid endosperm is plesiomorphic, the triploid endosperms of the vast majority of flowering plants must have evolved from a diploid condition through the developmental modification of the unique fertilization process that initiates endosperm.

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Figure 1: Four-celled/four-nucleate Nuphar female gametophyte.
Figure 2: Convergence in form of angiosperm female gametophytes.
Figure 3: The second fertilization event in Nuphar.
Figure 4: Evolution of female gametophyte structure and ploidy level of endosperm in basal angiosperms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. K. Diggle, L. Hufford and R. H. Robichaux for critical comments on the manuscript and W. Gallup and M. Dozier for assistance with histology. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation to W.E.F.

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  1. Joseph H. Williams and William E. Friedman: These authors contributed equally to the work

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  1. Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80309, Colorado, USA

    Joseph H. Williams & William E. Friedman

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  1. Joseph H. Williams
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Correspondence to William E. Friedman.

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Williams, J., Friedman, W. Identification of diploid endosperm in an early angiosperm lineage. Nature 415, 522–526 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415522a

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