Regional Growth Rate Differences Specified by Apical Notch Activities Regulate Liverwort Thallus Shape.

ABSTRACT: Plants have undergone 470 million years of evolution on land and different groups have distinct body shapes. Liverworts are the most ancient land plant lineage and have a flattened, creeping body (the thallus), which grows from apical cells in an invaginated "notch." The genetic mechanisms regulating liverwort shape are almost totally unknown, yet they provide a blueprint for the radiation of land plant forms. We have used a combination of live imaging, growth analyses, and computational modeling to determine what regulates liverwort thallus shape in Marchantia polymorpha. We find that the thallus undergoes a stereotypical sequence of shape transitions during the first 2 weeks of growth and that key aspects of global shape depend on regional growth rate differences generated by the coordin

SUBMITTER: Solly JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5226888 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature