PMID: 11327156May 1, 2001Paper

Vestigial organs as opportunities for functional innovation: the example of the Penstemon staminode

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
J Walker-Larsen, L D Harder

Abstract

Vestigial organs arise commonly during morphological evolution, but they need not be destined for elimination. Instead, vestigial organs may facilitate functional innovation because their freedom from functional constraints allows them to assume novel roles that their functional progenitor could not perform. We illustrate this vestigial transition between functions with an experimental study of the staminode of Penstemon flowers. Previous phylogenetic and developmental studies indicate that this staminode represents a stamen that was lost phenotypically, but not genetically, and then reappeared in the tribe Cheloneae, to which Penstemon belongs. To assess whether the Penstemon staminode has adopted a novel function(s), we compared pollination of flowers with and without staminodes for two bee-pollinated species, P. ellipticus and P. palmeri, and two hummingbird-pollinated species, P. centranthifolius and P. rostriflorus. The staminode acts differently in the two bee-pollinated species. For P. ellipticus, which represents the basal Penstemon lineage, the staminode hinders pollinator access to nectar, which increases visit duration and pollinator contact with sexual organs, thereby increasing pollen receipt by stigmas and control...Continue Reading

References

Oct 31, 1996·Nature·D LuoE Coen

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Citations

Apr 9, 2008·Journal of Plant Research·Akiko OnoTakashi Sugawara
May 25, 2007·Annals of Botany·Petra Wester, Regine Classen-Bockhoff
Sep 4, 2008·Annals of Botany·Elza GuimarãesRita de Cassia Sindrônia Maimoni-Rodella
Jan 1, 2002·American Journal of Botany·Maria Clara CastellanosJames D Thomson
Jul 3, 2015·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Rosalie C F BurdonAmy L Parachnowitsch
Apr 23, 2002·Nature Reviews. Genetics·Spencer C H Barrett
Aug 17, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jan ProchazkaRenata Peterkova
Feb 3, 2021·Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B, Molecular and Developmental Evolution·Alexa SadierMolly Womack

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