Abstract
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Through a multidisciplinary study we found that Gymnocalycium bruchii, an endemic cactus from central Argentina, acts as a dioecious species, which is the first record in this genus.
Abstract
Cactaceae species are typically hermaphroditic; however, about 2% have other different reproductive systems. These non-hermaphroditic species may develop sexual dimorphism in flowers or other reproductive, vegetative or ecological traits, besides a specific breeding system and floral ontogeny. Therefore, multidisciplinary research is necessary to fully understand reproduction in those species. For this purpose, we studied Gymnocalicium bruchii, a globose cactus endemic to central Argentina that is presumably dioecious or gynodioecious. We made observations in two natural and two cultivated populations. We made morphological observations of plants and flowers, and performed quantitative analyses to determine the sex ratio, size of plants and flowers, flower production, fruiting, among other variables. We performed hand-pollination, self-fertilization and free-pollination tests to determine the breeding system. Finally, we studied the anatomy and ontogeny of the reproductive organs using permanent histological slides of flower morphs at different stages. Our results confirm that Gymnocalicium bruchii is a dioecious species. Female flowers have atrophied anthers and a functional gynoecium that produces fruits and seeds. Male flowers are bigger and have a functional androecium but a sterile gynoecium. In the cultivated population, the sex ratio was 1/1, whereas the number of male individuals was higher in both natural populations. Pollination tests corroborated dioecy. Ontogenetic studies revealed that in female flowers the anthers collapse before microspore maturation, while in male flowers the gynoecium shows normal development of the ovary, style, stigma, and ovules; however, the latter are never fertilized.
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Jorgelina Brasca assisted with the English version of this manuscript.
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FONCyT (Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica. Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación, Grants Nos 2016-0077 and 2017-0220), SECyT (Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) and Research Committee of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.
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Delbón, N.E., Aliscioni, N.L., Lorenzati, M. et al. Looking for non-hermaphrodite cacti: multidisciplinary studies in Gymnocalycium bruchii endemic to central Argentina. Plant Reprod 37, 201–214 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-023-00461-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-023-00461-y