Norms of Pollen-Tube Growth in Incompatible Matings of Self-Sterile Plants

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Abstract
The 15 self-sterility allelomorphs of the single gene S were combined in various ways. Plants of the various combinations upon selfing were classified into 5 groups on the basis of rate of pollen tube growth. Each allelomorph exhibited a specific norm for pollen tube growth in plants homozygous for the various S factors S 1, S 1-S 15 S 15. The essential distinction between allelomorphs is thought to depend not on nutritional chemistry but rather on some more complicated type of chemical reaction between pollen tube and style closely resembling the specific protein reactions belonging to immunological phenomena. The principal evidence is that, although S 7 S 7, S 8 S 8, S 10 S 10, and S 14 S 14 plants have similar growth rates in self-pollinations, each is compatible with the other in cross matings. The pollen tube growth rates are greatly accelerated in cross matings. Also a normally slow growing allelomorph is speeded up by the presence of a fast growing allelomorph in matings where both are incompatible. Whether there is a similar acceleration of incompatible pollen, tubes when in competition with compatible ones, is not known.

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