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Dioecy in Flowering Plants: From the First Observations of Prospero Alpini in the XVI Century to the Most Recent Advances in the Genomics Era

Author

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  • Alessandro Vannozzi

    (Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), Campus of Agripolis, University of Padova, V. le dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
    These authors contribute equally to this work.)

  • Fabio Palumbo

    (Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), Campus of Agripolis, University of Padova, V. le dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
    These authors contribute equally to this work.)

  • Margherita Lucchin

    (Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), Campus of Agripolis, University of Padova, V. le dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy)

  • Gianni Barcaccia

    (Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), Campus of Agripolis, University of Padova, V. le dell’Università 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy)

Abstract

Prospero Alpini was an Italian physician, botanist and scientist. Born in Marostica, in the Republic of Venice, in his youth he served in the Milanese army, but in 1574 he decided to study medicine at the University of Padova, where he graduated in 1578. After a short period as a doctor in Camposampiero (Padova, Italy), he became the personal doctor of Giorgio Emo, the appointed consul in Cairo in Egypt. In this way, he was able to devote himself to the study of botany. In this country, from the cultivation practices of the date palm, he described for the first time the sexual dimorphism in plants, later adopted as the basis of Linnaeus’ scientific classification system. Since then, this behavior, termed dioecy, has been described in other plant species, and many advances have been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, especially with the advent of genomics. Starting from a brief description of Prospero’s life and his pioneering scientific contribution, we illustrated the two main models explaining dioecism. This was achieved by taking a cue from two plant species, grapevine and poplar, in which genomics and single molecule sequencing technologies played a pivotal role in scientific advance in this field.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Vannozzi & Fabio Palumbo & Margherita Lucchin & Gianni Barcaccia, 2022. "Dioecy in Flowering Plants: From the First Observations of Prospero Alpini in the XVI Century to the Most Recent Advances in the Genomics Era," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-10, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:3:p:364-:d:763769
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mélanie Massonnet & Noé Cochetel & Andrea Minio & Amanda M. Vondras & Jerry Lin & Aline Muyle & Jadran F. Garcia & Yongfeng Zhou & Massimo Delledonne & Summaira Riaz & Rosa Figueroa-Balderas & Brandon, 2020. "The genetic basis of sex determination in grapes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Maria F. Torres & Lisa S. Mathew & Ikhlak Ahmed & Iman K. Al-Azwani & Robert Krueger & Diego Rivera-Nuñez & Yasmin A. Mohamoud & Andrew G. Clark & Karsten Suhre & Joel A. Malek, 2018. "Genus-wide sequencing supports a two-locus model for sex-determination in Phoenix," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
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