Establishment of hornwort model system for land plant evo-devo studies

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26650143
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: Rikkyo University (2016-2017); Kanazawa University (2015); The University of Tokyo (2014)
• Principal Investigator: SAKAKIBARA Keiko 立教大学, 理学部, 准教授 (90590000)
• Research Collaborator: FRANGEDAKIS Eftychios 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科・学術振興会, 特別研究員(PD)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 陸上植物 / 進化 / ゲノム / コケ植物 / 胞子体進化 / ツノゴケ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Hornworts are one of bryophyte group, which locates at an important phylogenetic position in land plants. However the molecular genetic approaches or evo-devo research in hornworts were not well studied yet, because a hornwort model system was not available like other bryophyte groups, a moss Physcomitrella patens a liverwort and Marchantia polymorpha.
We tried to establish a hornwort model system using a hornwort species, Anthoceros agrestis, which can be induced all developmental stages of the life cycle within 3 months under experimental condition. As the results, we established stable transformation technique via Agrobacterium, generated Anthoceros agrestis draft genome assembly with paired-end library, and perform RNA sequencing using the gametophyte tissue. Also we found KNOX, LFY, and WOX genes, which were identified as sporophyte developmental genes in the moss Physcomitrella patens. We isolated promoter regions of these genes for further expression analysis.

Free Research Field

発生進化学