Scientists in the United Kingdom create a plant that rejects its own pollen or pollen of close relatives.
Self-pollination or ‘selfing’ can be bad for a plant resulting in inbreeding and less healthy offspring. The results could be used to breed stronger more resilient crops faster and at lower cost; a new approach in the quest for a secure and plentiful food supply.
The researchers say this study represents a major advance in the quest to utilize self-incompatibility systems as a potential alternative means to breed hybrid plants — plants whose ‘hybrid vigour’ gives them better yields and strength than their parents.
More information is available here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uob-stg110315.php
