Sex determination in dioecious Silene latifolia (Effects of the Y chromosome and the parasitic smut fungus (Ustilago violacea) on gene expression during flower development)

We have embarked on a molecular cloning approach to the investigation of sex determination in Silene latifolia Poiret, a dioecious plant species with morphologically distinguishable sex chromosomes. One of our key objectives was to define a range of genes that are up-regulated in male plants in response to Y chromosome sex-determination genes. Here we present the characterization of eight male-specific cDNA sequences and classify these according to their expression dynamics to provide a range of molecular markers for dioecious male flower development. Genetically female S. latifolia plants undergo a partial sex reversal in response to infection by the parasitic smut fungus Ustilago violacea. This phenomenon has been exploited in these studies; male-specific cDNAs have been further categorized as inducible or noninducible in female plants by smut fungus infection. Analysis of the organ-specific expression of male-specific probes in male and female flowers has also identified a gene that is regulated in a sex-specific manner in nonreproductive floral tissues common to both male and female plants. This observation provides, to our knowledge, the first molecular marker for dominant effects of the Y chromosome in nonreproductive floral organs.