Harnessing apomictic reproduction in grasses: what we have learned from Paspalum

† Background: Apomixis is an alternative route of plant reproduction that produces individuals genetically identical to the mother plant through seeds. Apomixis is desirable in agriculture, because it guarantees the perpetuation of superior genotypes (i.e. heterotic hybrid seeds) by self-seeding without loss of hybrid vigour. The Paspalum genus, an archetypal model system for mining apomixi…