该课题组研究人员发现，在蝴蝶百合中，雌性和雄性的器官通过基因控制的手性和向重力性的组合而偏转，相对于外部而不是内部参考轴向左和向右定向。研究小组发现协调的器官定位是由一个半合子超基因控制的，该基因包含两个候选的致病位点MIR156-R和YUCCA-R，分别负责相反的雌性和雄性器官定位。携带两个超基因等位基因的花粉在传粉者体内的不同位置导致它们以相反的手性转移到花的柱头上，并维持了生殖多态性。
据了解，基因如何决定手性结构的发展是一个令人着迷的问题。雌性和雄性器官在镜像花的相对两侧的相互放置促进了有效的异花授粉。
附：英文原文
Title: Supergene control of chiral development in mirror-image flowers
Author: Haoran Xue, Marco Saltini, Nicola Illing, Kelly Shepherd, Olivia Page-Macdonald, Oliver Marketos, Caroline Robertson, Anand Shankar, Sarah Sü, Christian Kappel, Saleh Alseekh, Eva E. Deinum, Robert A. Ingle, Michael Lenhard
Issue&Volume: 2026-07-30
Abstract: How genes determine the development of chiral structures is a fascinating question. The reciprocal placement of female and male organs on opposite sides of mirror-image flowers promotes efficient cross-pollination. Here, we identified that in butterfly lilies, female and male organs deflect by a combination of genetically controlled chirality and gravitropism, orienting left and right with respect to an external rather than internal reference axis. We found coordinated organ placement to be controlled by a hemizygous supergene containing two candidate causal loci, MIR156-R and YUCCA-R, that are responsible for opposite female and male organ orientation, respectively. The resulting differential placement of pollen carrying the two supergene alleles on pollinators’ bodies leads to their transfer to the stigmas of flowers with opposite handedness and maintenance of the reproductive polymorphism.
DOI: aeb1157
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb1157