Hermaphroditic species of plants and animal can produce a mixture of outcrossed and self-fertilized offspring. Estimating the relative frequency of these two outcomes, i.e. the outcrossing rate, has been a major focus in the evolutionary study of reproductive strategies. Outcrossing rate is also a key parameter for plant breeding and for conservation efforts. This paper generalizes a Bayesian method to estimate outcrossing rate (BORICE) using genomic data. Application of the program to an experimental study of Mimulus guttatus illustrates estimation (10% of progeny were selfed), and also how inference of mating system parameters can set up “downstream” evolutionary studies. In the Mimulus study, these downstream analyses included pollination biology (the genetic composition of pollen changed over the season) and local adaptation (inversion polymorphisms exhibit unique patterns of micro spatial structure within the population).

-Professor John K Kelly, University of Kansas

Full article: Colicchio, J., Monnahan, P. J., Wessinger, C. A., Brown, K., Kern, J. R., & Kelly, J. K. (2020). Individualized mating system estimation using genomic data. Molecular ecology resources. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13094