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Nature 443, E8-E9 (28 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05252; Published online 27 September 2006

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Increased outcrossing in hothead mutants (Reply)

Susan J. Lolle1, Robert E. Pruitt2, J. L. Victor2 & J. M. Young2

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Arising from: S. J. Lolle, J. L. Victor, J. M. Young & R. E. Pruitt Nature 434, 505–509 (2005).

The results obtained by Peng et al.1 are consistent with an increased amount of outcrossing in hth mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Some of the results, such as the acquisition of a novel transgene, would be difficult to explain by any other mechanism. Outcrossing was a possibility that we thoroughly explored early on in our investigation2, but we discounted it as an explanation because it was inconsistent with many of our experimental results.