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First published online December 18, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800423 American Journal of Botany 97: 1-14 (2010) © 2010 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Female gametophyte and early seed development in Peperomia (Piperaceae)¹

² Department of Marine Biology, Texas A & M University, Galveston, Texas 77551 USA ³ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA

ABSTRACT

The evolution of female gametophyte development provides an example of how minor ontogenetic modifications can impact the functional biology of seeds. Mature Peperomia-type female gametophytes are normally depicted as 16-nucleate, nine-celled structures. However, recent ultrastructural data have demonstrated that many previous reports were incorrect, suggesting that our understanding of the Peperomia-type ontogeny is incomplete. In this investigation, female gametophyte and early seed development is described in Peperomia dolabriformis, P. jamesoniana, and P. hispidula. Nuclear positioning, nuclear division, and vacuole morphology are documented during the syncytial stages of development, and two mature female gametophyte cellular configurations are described. Endosperm ploidy is measured in each species using microspectrofluorometry. We conclude that a 10-celled construction is likely the most common cellular configuration in Peperomia and that a three-celled female gametophyte exists in P. hispidula. We also describe how developmental modifications of wall formation could produce the diverse cellular configurations observed throughout Peperomia. Interestingly, the onset of female gametophyte diversification within Piperales correlates with the origin of the perisperm in the common ancestor of Piperaceae + Saururaceae. We posit that the origin of the perisperm may have relaxed selection on endosperm genetic constructs, thereby promoting diversification of female gametophyte ontogeny.

Key Words: development • evolution • female gametophyte • magnoliid • Piperales • Piperaceae • Peperomia

Received for publication 16 December 2008. Accepted for publication 15 May 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank B. Hammel from the Asociación Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad for the collection of P. hispidula from Costa Rica. They also thank S. Wanke, G. Mathieu, and M. S. Samain from the Technische Universität Dresden in Germany for the identification of Peperomia jamesoniana. This project was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to W.F. (IOB-0446191).

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: ned{at}colorado.edu)

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