Commonality of self-recognition specificity of S haplotypes between Brassica oleracea and Brassica rapa

We have identified several interspecific pairs of S haplotypes having highly similar SRK and SP11/SCR sequences between Brassica oleracea and Brassica rapa. The recognition specificities of S haplotypes in these pairs were examined with three different methods. Stigmas of interspecific hybrids between an S-32 homozygote in B. oleracea and an S-60 homozygote in B. rapa, which were produced to avoid the interspecific incompatibility between the two species, showed incompatibility to the pollen of an S-8 homozygote in B. rapa and to the pollen of an S-15 homozygote in B. oleracea, while it showed compatibility to the pollen of other S haplotypes, suggesting B. oleracea S-32 and B. rapa S-60 have the same recognition specificity as B. rapa S-8 and B. oleracea S-15. Pollen grains of transgenic S-60 homozygous plants in B. rapa carrying a transgene of SP11-24 from B. oleracea were incompatible to B. rapa S-36 stigma, indicating that B. oleracea S-24 and B. rapa S-36 have the same recognition specificity. Application of the SP11 protein of B. rapa S-41 and S-47 onto the surface of B. oleracea S-64 stigmas and S-12 stigmas, respectively, resulted in the incompatibility reaction to pollen grains of another S haplotype, but application onto the stigmas of other S haplotypes did not, suggesting that B. oleracea S-64 stigmas and S-12 stigmas recognized the B. rapa SP11-41 and SP11-47 proteins as self SP11 proteins, respectively. Besides having evolutionary implications, finding of many interspecific pairs of S haplotypes can provide insight into the molecular mechanism of self-recognition. Comparing deduced amino-acid sequences of SP11 proteins and SRK proteins in the pairs, regions of SP11 and SRK important for self-recognition are discussed.