caa a22 4500 477039456 CHVBK 20180405111313.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170330e19960301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF00989066 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF00989066 Does endosperm reduce intra-fruit competition among developing seeds? [Elektronische Daten] [R. Uma Shaanker, K. Ravishankar, S. Hegde, K. Ganeshaiah] The evolution of endosperm, the tissue that nourishes developing embryos, has remained an enigma owing to its unique genetic composition. Because it contains both maternal (generally 2 doses) and paternal (1 dose) genomes, it is suggested to have evolved as a compromising tissue between the evolutionary interests of the maternal parent and offspring over resource allocation. This argument implies that in species where endosperm is highly functional and persistent, it quenches competition among developing embryos for resources and facilitates an equitable resource allocation to the developing offspring. Based on this argument we predict the association of well developed endosperm with certain features of fruits such as high ovule number per ovary and low extent of seed abortion. In this paper, we provide evidence in support of these predictions by analysing the data from 1131 species from the Flora of Presidency of Madras. We show that persistent and functional endosperm is more frequent in multiovulated than in uniovulated species and in species with less seed abortion. Our results also suggest that species with well developed endosperm tend to have uni-carpelled ovaries. Our analyses show that these associations are less likely to be emerging due to phylogenetic constraints. We argue that the endosperm has evolved as a maternal strategy of quenching the extent of sibling rivalry. Springer-Verlag, 1996 Endosperm nationallicence sibling rivalry nationallicence multiovulated ovary nationallicence seed abortion nationallicence locules nationallicence maternal strategy nationallicence phylogenetic constraint nationallicence Uma Shaanker R. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut Ravishankar K. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut Hegde S. Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut Ganeshaiah K. Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut Plant Systematics and Evolution Springer-Verlag 201/1-4(1996-03-01), 263-270 0378-2697 201:1-4<263 1996 201 606 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989066 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989066 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Uma Shaanker R. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ravishankar K. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hegde S. Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ganeshaiah K. Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, 560 065, Bangalore, India aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Plant Systematics and Evolution Springer-Verlag 201/1-4(1996-03-01), 263-270 0378-2697 201:1-4<263 1996 201 606 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer