The aim of this proposal is to determine whether different levels of genetic relatedness between pollen donor and recipient affect pre- and postfertilization stages during reproduction in individuals from a population of radish, Raphanus sativus. The project is organized into three objectives: (1) The effect of inbreeding on fruit and seed development and the growth and reproduction of inbred progeny will be analyzed for five different levels of genetic relatedness shared between pollen donor and recipient. (2) Pollen/style interaction will also be examined as a function of five levels of inbreeding. (3) Inbreeding effects will be examined statistically to analyze patterns of genetic structure within several natural populations. This research will be the first to investigate in detail the effects of inbreeding in a self-incompatible plant population and thus will provide valuable data relative to the analysis of realized mating patterns and the general study of microevolution in self-incompatible plants.
