Apomixis revisited

Abstract

The discussions recently published in Current Science, as reviews on apomixis in higher plants, by Kaushal et al. and Bhat et al., are valuable contributions for generating new ideas in this agriculturally important area. Besides describing the characteristics of the various forms of apomixis, the authors1,2 have also attempted to identify techniques that can be used to observe the occurrence of apomixis, and features to be present in model systems, as also approaches that should be employed in these to understand the biology of apomixis in molecular terms. The authors have reached the conclusion that, to unravel the enigma of apomixis (formation of seeds having maternal genotype without fertilization), detailed knowledge of the molecular biology of plant reproductive process is a prerequisite for its apomictic manipulation. They have advised that new experimentation on apomixis be directed in Arabidopsis and rice plants and it be designed to reveal the regulation of meiosis, endosperm development and parthenogenetic or apomictic embryo development. They have opined that knowledge-based deregulation of the key regulatory step(s) of the above-mentioned plant processes might help engineer apomixis in these systems. The conclusion is unquestionable.