Prezygotic mate selection is only partially correlated with the expression of NaS-like RNases and affects offspring phenotypes.

Nicotiana attenuata styles preferentially select pollen from among accessions with corresponding expression patterns of NaS-like-RNases (SLRs), and the postpollination ethylene burst (PPEB) is an accurate predictor of seed siring success. However, the ecological consequences of mate selection, its effect on the progeny, and the role of SLRs in the control of ethylene signaling remain unknown. We explored the link between the magnitude of the ethylene burst and expression of the SLRs in a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs), dissected the genetic underpinnings of mate selection through genome-wide association study (GWAS), and examined its outcome for phenotypes in the next generation. We found that high levels of PPEB are associated with the absence of SLR2 in most of the tested RILs. We identified candidate genes potentially involved in the control of mate selection and showed that pollination of maternal genotypes with their favored pollen donors produces offspring with longer roots. When the maternal genotypes are only able to select against nonfavored pollen donors, the selection for such positive traits is abolished. We conclude that plants' ability of mate choice contributes to measurable changes in progeny phenotypes and is thus likely a target of selection

Vibronic coupling explains the ultrafast carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer in natural and artificial light harvesters

The initial energy transfer in photosynthesis occurs between the light-harvesting pigments and on ultrafast timescales. We analyze the carotenoid to bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer in LH2 Marichromatium purpuratum as well as in an artificial light-harvesting dyad system by using transient grating and two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy with 10 fs time resolution. We find that F\"orster-type models reproduce the experimentally observed 60 fs transfer times, but overestimate coupling constants, which leads to a disagreement with both linear absorption and electronic 2D-spectra. We show that a vibronic model, which treats carotenoid vibrations on both electronic ground and excited state as part of the system's Hamiltonian, reproduces all measured quantities. Importantly, the vibronic model presented here can explain the fast energy transfer rates with only moderate coupling constants, which are in agreement with structure based calculations. Counterintuitively, the vibrational levels on the carotenoid electronic ground state play a central role in the excited state population transfer to bacteriochlorophyll as the resonance between the donor-acceptor energy gap and vibrational ground state energies is the physical basis of the ultrafast energy transfer rates in these systems