Plants that have both male and female organs in the same flower have high risk of self-fertilization, which would produce less fit offspring. Hence, many plants have developed various mechanisms to avoid self-fertilization, called “self-incompatibility” (SI). In my lab we study a particular SI mechanism, which is based on molecular recognition between two sets of proteins expressed in female and male organs. This system has practical implications in agriculture, but also raises fundamental theoretical questions regarding its evolutionary emergence and maintenance. See more at  Tamar Friedlander lab.