摘要

Multiple independent and overlapping pollen rejection pathways contribute to unilateral interspecific incompatibility (UI). In crosses between tomato species, pollen rejection usually occurs when the female parent is self-incompatible (SI) and the male parent self-compatible (SC) (the 'SI x SC rule'). Additional, as yet unknown, UI mechanisms are independent of self-incompatibility and contribute to UI between SC species or populations. We identified a major quantitative trait locus on chromosome 10 (ui10.1) which affects pollen-side UI responses in crosses between cultivated tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, and Solanum pennellii LA0716, both of which are SC and lack S-RNase, the pistil determinant of S-specificity in Solanaceae. Here we show that ui10.1 is a farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase gene (FPS2) expressed in pollen. Expression is about 18-fold higher in pollen of S. pennellii than in S. lycopersicum. Pollen with the hypomorphic S. lycopersicum allele is selectively eliminated on pistils of the F-1 hybrid, leading to transmission ratio distortion in the F-2 progeny. CRISPR/Cas9-generated knockout mutants (fps2) in S. pennellii LA0716 are self-sterile due to pollen rejection, but mutant pollen is fully functional on pistils of S. lycopersicum. F-2 progeny of S. lycopersicum x S. pennellii (fps2) show reversed transmission ratio distortion due to selective elimination of pollen bearing the knockout allele. Overexpression of FPS2 in S. lycopersicum pollen rescues the pollen elimination phenotype. FPS2-based pollen selectivity does not involve S-RNase and has not been previously linked to UI. Our results point to an entirely new mechanism of interspecific pollen rejection in plants.