title: Dioecy in Amborella trichopoda: evidence for genetically based sex determination and its consequences for inferences of the breeding system in early angiosperms.
abstract: This work aimed to gain insight into the breeding system at the base of living angiosperms through both character state reconstructions and the study of sex ratios and phenotypes in the likely sister to all other living angiosperms, Amborella trichopoda .
  
  
  
  Sex phenotypes were mapped onto a phylogeny of basally diverging angiosperms using maximum parsimony. In parallel, sex ratios and phenotypes were studied over two consecutive flowering seasons in an ex situ population of A. trichopoda , while the sex ratio of an in situ population was also assessed.
  
  
  
  Parsimony analyses failed to resolve the breeding system present at the base of living angiosperms, but indicated the importance of A. trichopoda for the future elucidation of this question. The ex situ A. trichopoda population studied showed a primary sex ratio close to 1:1, though sex ratio bias was found in the in situ population studied. Instances of sexual instability were quantified in both populations.
  
  
  
  Sex ratio data support the presence of genetic sex determination in A. trichopoda , whose further elucidation may guide inferences on the breeding system at the base of living angiosperms. Sexual instability in A. trichopoda suggests the operation of epigenetic mechanisms, and the evolution of dioecy via a gynodioecious intermediate.
authors.affiliation: Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), BP 73 Port Laguerre, 98890?Païta, New Caledonia.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anger
authors.affiliation: Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), BP 73 Port Laguerre, 98890 Païta, New Caledonia.|Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (UNC), Laboratoire Insulaire du Vivant et de l'Environnement (LIVE), 98851 Nouméa, New Caledonia.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fogliani
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Plantes (UMR 5667: CNRS-INRA-Université de Lyon), Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (ENS-Lyon), 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France.
authors.forename: Charles P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Scutt
authors.affiliation: Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), BP 73 Port Laguerre, 98890?Païta, New Caledonia.
authors.forename: Gildas
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gâteblé
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019849:Sex Determination Processes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Amborella trichopoda, ANA grade; Dioecy; angiosperms; flowering plants; sex determination; sex ratio