The evolution of fruit scent: phylogenetic and developmental constraints

BACKGROUND: Fruit scent is increasingly recognized as an evolved signal whose function is to attract animal seed dispersers and facilitate plant reproduction. However, like all traits, fruit scent is likely to evolve in response to conflicting selective pressures and various constraints. Two major constraints are (i) phylogenetic constraints, in which traits are inherited from ancestors rather than adapted to current conditions and (ii) developmental constraints, if phenotypes are limited by the expression of other traits within the individual. We tested whether phylogenetic constraints play a role in fruit scent evolution by calculating the phylogenetic signal in ripe fruits of 98 species from three study sites. We then estimated the importance of developmental constraints by examining whether ripe fruits tend to emit compounds that are chemically similar to, and share biosynthetic pathways with, compounds emitted by conspecific unripe fruits from which they develop. RESULTS: We show that closely related taxa are not more similar to each other than to very distinct taxa, thus indicating that fruit scent shows little phylogenetic signal. At the same time, although ripe and unripe fruits of the same species tend to emit different chemicals, they tend to employ chemicals originating from similar biosynthetic pathways, thus indicating that some developmental constraints determine ripe fruit scent. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the complex landscape in which fruit scent has evolved. On one hand, fruit scent evolution is not limited by common ancestry. On the other hand, the range of chemicals that can be employed in ripe fruits is probably constrained by the needs of unripe fruits.