Reconciling Conflicting Selection Pressures in the Plant Self-Incompatibility System

Explore how complex biological systems reconcile conflicting selection pressures through a detailed examination of plant self-incompatibility mechanisms in this 32-minute conference talk. Delve into the molecular recognition systems that plants use to inhibit self-fertilization, focusing on the specific interactions between proteins expressed in female and male reproductive organs. Learn about the theoretical framework developed to understand promiscuous recognition between proteins and multiple partners, as observed in empirical studies. Discover how opposing selection pressures asymmetrically affect amino acid frequencies in protein recognition domains, with greater impact on female rather than male protein composition. Examine the application of stochastic simulations and large deviations theory to approximate observed frequencies and validate findings against genomic data. Gain insights into a general theoretical framework that can be applied to study multiple selection pressures across various biological systems beyond plant reproduction.