LEAFY demonstrates functions in reproductive development of the gametophyte but not the sporophyte of the fern Ceratopteris richardii.

ABSTRACT: Flowers are a key reproductive innovation of the angiosperms. Seed plant reproductive axes (including flowers) evolved as reproductively specialized shoots of the land plant diploid sporophyte, with the gamete-producing haploid gametophyte becoming reduced and enclosed within ovules and microsporangia. The transcription factor LEAFY (LFY) initiates floral development, yet it predates flowers and is found across all land plants. LFY function outside angiosperms is known from the moss Physcomitrium patens, where it controls the first cell division of the sporophyte, and from the model fern Ceratopteris richardii, a seedless vascular plant where CrLFY1 and CrLFY2 maintain vegetative meristem activity. However, how the floral role of LFY evolved remains unclear. Using overexpression, we uncove

SUBMITTER: McConnell H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12813671 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature