Tag: Evolution

Since the publication of the Marchantia polymorpha genome in 2017, a big update was necessary. In the past week, two groups published on improving Marchantia chromosome assembly following different experimental approaches. Diop et al. made a high-density linkage map using genetic markers obtained by…

Plants have evolved with rooting cells to anchor them to the land and uptake nutrients efficiently. Growth of root hairs in seed plants or rhizoids in early diverging plants both rely on tip growth, which requires a coordination of wall loosening and deposition of wall materials with cell expansion in…

Multicellularity has arisen independently many times across the eukaryotic tree of life (e.g., in plants, animals and fungi). Comparisons of green algae with land plants is likely to identify the genetic toolkit of multicellularity as well as the colonization of terrestrial habitats. Here, Liang et al.…

Photosynthesis occurs in several ways, only one of which releases oxygen as a product. As oxygen-breathing organisms, we are totally dependent on oxygenic photosynthesis, which is restricted to cyanobacteria and green plant plastids. In this review, Sánchez‐Baracaldo and Cardona examine how recent…

Following interspecific hybridization, one of the two parental genomes (aka subgenomes) tends to become dominant (more highly retained and expressed). What determines which of the subgenomes will become dominant, or is it random? To explore this question, Bird et al. made several crosses between Brassica…

With a collaborative effort by multiple laboratories across the world, a database of transcriptomics data has been generated for 1124 species encompassing green plants, glaucophytes, and red algae. This extensive work referred to as onekp (one thousand plant transcriptomes) will aid in researchers to…

Morel et al. investigate AP1/SEP/AGL6 MADS-box transcription factor functions in Petunia. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00162 By Michiel Vandenbussche Background: The ABCE model is a simple genetic model that explains how the different floral organs in the flower (sepals, petals, stamens…

Auxin plays multiple developmental roles from embryogenesis to seed development. To understand the mechanism of auxin response in plants, researchers utilize the early-diverging land plant models, Physcomitrella patens and Marchantia polymorpha. In this paper, Thelander et al., have identified a…