The level of relatedness affects self/nonself discrimination in Eucalyptus urophylla seedlings

Plants can develop differentially due to their ability of self/non-self discrimination and to the degree of kinship among them. Here, we evaluate the ability of self/non-self discrimination of Eucalyptus urophylla roots in plant groups with different levels of relatedness. We used three plant groups: clonal, half-siblings and population. Split-root plants were grown in pots containing either two roots of the same plant (SD) or of two different plants (NSD). The root and leaves growth of the half-siblings and population plant group was decreased by the NSD in relation to SD, while in clonal group this response was not observed. The multivariate analysis indicated that there was a progressive increase in plants responses likely caused by competitive interaction of roots as the level of relatedness between individuals was lower. Our results suggest that the group of clonal plants minimize the competitive interaction among them, indicating low ability to discriminate from each other. However, half-sibling and populational plants reduce growth as a result of root competition, showing high capacity of self-discrimination. Thus, there seems to be the necessity for a minimum degree of genetic variation between plants in order for its kin recognition to be expressed.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author