Abstract
Eragrostis curvula serves as a valuable model for studying diplosporous apomixis due to its unique reproductive mode, wide ploidy range, and extensive genomic resources. A major limitation for reproductive studies in this species is the difficulty of isolating female tissues at precise developmental stages, for example, for transcriptomics studies, since different floral tissues can introduce expression noise from non-target tissues. To overcome this, we performed a detailed cytoembryological and morphometric characterization of male and female development in seven E. curvula genotypes with different ploidy levels (2X–7X) and reproductive modes (sexual, facultative apomictic, and obligate apomictic). Using differential interference contrast microscopy and methyl salicylate clarification, we described key cytological stages of male and female development. These stages were then correlated with external floral parameters, including pistil, ovary, style, and anther length, to generate genotype-specific developmental calendars. Pistil length showed the strongest association with female developmental stage, particularly during the early phases of ovule development, enabling more precise staging. Synchrony between male and female development was also evaluated, revealing no consistent differences among reproductive modes or ploidy levels. This genotype-informed framework provides a practical tool for stage prediction and tissue selection, supporting future reproductive, developmental, and comparative studies in E. curvula and related grasses.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
Pistil length is the floral parameter most strongly associated with female developmental stage in Eragrostis curvula.
- Taxon
- Eragrostis curvula
Eragrostis curvulat0 - Organ / stage
- Pistile1
- Outcome
- female developmental stagee1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Eragrostis curvula”
e1“Pistil length showed the strongest association with female developmental stage”
Claim · model-written summary
Synchrony between male and female development shows no consistent differences among reproductive modes or ploidy levels in Eragrostis curvula.
- Taxon
- Eragrostis curvulaEragrostis curvulat0
- Outcome
- Synchrony between male and female developmente3
- Qualifier
- no consistent differences among reproductive modes or ploidy levelse3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Eragrostis curvula”
e3“Synchrony between male and female development was also evaluated, revealing no consistent differences among reproductive modes or ploidy levels”
Claim · model-written summary
Key cytological stages of male and female development were described for Eragrostis curvula.
- Taxon
- Eragrostis curvulaEragrostis curvulat0
- Outcome
- key cytological stages of male and female developmente4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Eragrostis curvula”
e4“we described key cytological stages of male and female development”
Claim · model-written summary
Genotype-specific developmental calendars were generated for seven Eragrostis curvula genotypes.
- Taxon
- Eragrostis curvulaEragrostis curvulat0
- Outcome
- developmental calendarse5
- Value
- seven E. curvula genotypese6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Eragrostis curvula”
e5“to generate genotype-specific developmental calendars”
e6“seven E. curvula genotypes with different ploidy levels (2X–7X)”