Environmental and Genetic Factors Affecting Apospory Expressivity in Diploid Paspalum rufum

In angiosperms, gametophytic apomixis (clonal reproduction through seeds) is strongly associated with polyploidy and hybridization. The trait is facultative and its expressivity is highly variable between genotypes. Here, we used an F₁ progeny derived from diploid apomictic (aposporic) genotypes of Paspalum rufum and two F₂ families, derived from F₁ hybrids with different apospory expressivity (%AES), to analyze the influence of the environment and the transgenerational transmission of the trait. In addition, AFLP markers were developed in the F₁ population to identify genomic regions associated with the %AES. Cytoembryological analyses showed that the %AES was significantly influenced by different environments, but remained stable across the years. F₁ and F₂ progenies showed a wide range of %AES variation, but most hybrids were not significantly different from the parental genotypes. Maternal and paternal genetic linkage maps were built covering the ten expected linkage groups (LG). A single-marker analysis detected at least one region of 5.7 cM on LG3 that was significantly associated with apospory expressivity. Our results underline the importance of environmental influence in modulating apospory expressivity and identified a genomic region associated with apospory expressivity at the diploid level.