| Title: | An ancient push-pull pollination mechanism in cycads |
| Author(s): | Salzman S; Crook D; Crall JD; Hopkins R; Pierce NE; |
| Address: | "Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. The Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02131, USA. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. USDA-APHIS-PPQ CPHST, Otis Laboratory, Building 1398, Otis ANGB, MA 02542, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2375-2548 (Electronic) 2375-2548 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Most cycads engage in brood-site pollination mutualisms, yet the mechanism by which the Cycadales entice pollination services from diverse insect mutualists remains unknown. Here, we characterize a push-pull pollination mechanism between a New World cycad and its weevil pollinators that mirrors the mechanism between a distantly related Old World cycad and its thrips pollinators. The behavioral convergence between weevils and thrips, combined with molecular phylogenetic dating and a meta-analysis of thermogenesis and coordinated patterns of volatile attraction and repulsion suggest that a push-pull pollination mutualism strategy is ancestral in this ancient, dioecious plant group. Hence, it may represent one of the earliest insect/plant pollination mechanisms, arising long before the evolution of visual floral signaling commonly used by flowering plants" |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINESalzman, Shayla Crook, Damon Crall, James D Hopkins, Robin Pierce, Naomi E eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2020/06/26 Sci Adv. 2020 Jun 12; 6(24):eaay6169. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay6169. eCollection 2020 Jun" |
