Polyspermy produces tri-parental seeds in maize

Ueli Grossniklaus1

  • 1Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology & Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland.

Current Biology : CB
|December 20, 2017
PubMed
Summary

Flowering plants lack a fast block to polyspermy in the central cell, unlike animals. This study reveals a potential genetic pathway for tri-parental individuals in maize, offering a new route to polyploidy.

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