Dioecy in plants: an evolutionary dead end? Insights from a population genomics study in the Silene genus

Abstract About 15,000 angiosperm species (∼6%) have separate sexes, a phenomenon known as dioecy. Early work reported a lower species richness in dioecious compared to non-dioecious sister clades, which was taken to suggest that dioecy might be an evolutionary dead end. More recently, phylogenetic analyses using different methodologies have challenged this conclusion. Here, we used a population genomics approach to look for evidence of evolutionary handicaps of dioecy in the Silene genus at the molecular level. We obtained RNA-seq data of individuals from several populations in 13 closely related species with different breeding systems: seven dioecious, three hermaphroditic and three gynodioecious species. We show that dioecy is associated with increased genetic diversity and a higher selection efficacy both against deleterious and for beneficial mutations while controlling for differences in population size. We conclude that, in the Silene genus, dioecious species bear no sign of mutational burden or upcoming extinction. On the contrary, dioecious species harbor a higher potential for adaptation than their non-dioecious relatives. Our results do not support the evolutionary dead end hypothesis and re-open the question why dioecy is rare in angiosperms. Significance statement Dioecy (=separate sexes) is much rarer in flowering plants compared to animals and other organisms. The “dead-end hypothesis” states that dioecious plant populations might experience evolutionary handicaps such as low seed dispersal (as only 50% of the individuals, the females, contribute), which might cause high genetic drift, low adaptation and ultimately extinction. Here we tested this hypothesis by focusing on the genus Silene and by comparing the population genetics of 13 dioecious and non-dioecious species. We found that dioecious Silene species exhibit lower genetic drift and more adaptation compared to their non-dioecious relatives. Our results thus reject the dead-end hypothesis and re-open the question of why dioecy is rare in flowering plants.