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Genetic basis of morphological evolution in land plants

Reference	BBS/E/J/0000A218
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Liam Dolan
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	111,270
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/02/2005
End date	31/01/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The evolution of land plants in the Palaeozoic led to dramatic environmental change. One of the direct results of the development of the land flora was an increase in continental weathering which contributed to CO2 pull down and a decrease in atmospheric CO2 levels. This enhanced weathering resulted in part from the break up of surface rock that was brought about partly by the activity of rhizoids in the Ordovician and Silurian and rhizoids, roots, root hairs and mycorrhizae from the Devonian onwards. These activities gave rise to soils and the development of the complex terrestrial ecosystem. Both rhizoids and root hairs are required for the anchorage of plants to their growth substrate and for the uptake of water and inorganic ions. We recently discovered that the RHD6-related genes control the formation of root hairs in Arabidopsis. We identified similar genes in moss, a bryophyte. The bryophytes are considered to be the most ancestral of the land plants. Here we propose to determine the function of these putative moss regulatory genes. We predict the moss genes control the formation of rhizoids which are functionally equivalent to root hairs. If this is true it suggests that the same regulatory genes control the development of rhizoids and root hairs and that this function has been conserved over the past 400 million years. If these genes do not control rhizoid development in moss it suggests that the root hair development pathway recruited genes with a different function in the ancestral plant. If the latter is true our analysis will define this ancestral function.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Genes & Developmental Biology (GDB)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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