Bioscience and Biotechnology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
Science. 2014 Oct 24;346(6208):469-73. doi: 10.1126/science.1259923.
Some ferns possess the ability to control their sex ratio to maintain genetic variation in their colony with the aid of antheridiogen pheromones, antheridium (male organ)-inducing compounds that are related to gibberellin. We determined that ferns have evolved an antheridiogen-mediated communication system to produce males by modifying the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway, which is split between two individuals of different developmental stages in the colony. Antheridiogen acts as a bridge between them because it is more readily taken up by prothalli than bioactive gibberellin. The pathway initiates in early-maturing prothalli (gametophytes) within a colony, which produce antheridiogens and secrete them into the environment. After the secreted antheridiogen is absorbed by neighboring late-maturing prothalli, it is modified in to bioactive gibberellin to trigger male organ formation.
一些蕨类植物拥有控制其性别比例的能力，以维持其群体中的遗传变异，这得益于雄配子体生殖素信息素的帮助，雄配子体生殖素是一种与赤霉素相关的诱导雄配子体形成的化合物。我们发现，蕨类植物通过修饰赤霉素生物合成途径，进化出了一种由雄配子体生殖素介导的通讯系统，从而产生雄性个体，该途径在群体中不同发育阶段的两个个体之间被分割。雄配子体生殖素作为它们之间的桥梁，因为它比生物活性赤霉素更容易被原叶体吸收。该途径在群体中早熟的原叶体（配子体）中启动，原叶体产生雄配子体生殖素并将其分泌到环境中。分泌的雄配子体生殖素被相邻的晚熟原叶体吸收后，被修饰成生物活性赤霉素，以触发雄性器官的形成。
