Timing of meristem initiation and maintenance determines the morphology of fern gametophytes
Abstract
The alternation of generations in land plants occurs between the sporophyte phase and the gametophyte phase. The sporophytes of seed plants develop self-maintained, multicellular meristems, and these meristems determine plant architecture. The gametophytes of seed plants lack meristems and are heterotrophic. In contrast, the gametophytes of seed-free vascular plants, including ferns, are autotrophic and free-living, developing meristems to sustain their independent growth and proliferation. Compared to meristems in the sporophytes of seed plants, the cellular mechanisms underlying meristem development in fern gametophytes remain largely unknown. Here, using confocal time-lapse live imaging and computational segmentation and quantification, we determined different patterns of cell divisions associated with the initiation and proliferation of two distinct types of meristems in fern gametophytes. Our results reveal how the simple timing of a switch between two meristems has considerable consequences for the divergent gametophyte morphologies of two closely related ferns from Pteridaceae (Pteris and Ceratopteris). Our result provides evolutionary insight into the function and regulation of gametophyte meristems in seed-free vascular plants.
Additional Information
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Received: 17 March 2021; Editorial decision: 22 June 2021; Accepted: 25 June 2021; Published: 28 June 2021; Corrected and typeset: 10 August 2021. The authors thank the Purdue Bindley Bioscience Facility for the access of the ZEISS LSM880 confocal microscope. The authors also thank Prof. Elliot Meyerowitz at Caltech for the support and encouragement. This work was supported by Purdue University start-up and funds from Purdue Center for Plant Biology (to YZ) and by the NSF-IOS 1931114 (to JB and YZ). Author contributions: YZ conceived the research direction, XW performed the experiments, XW, AY, JB SM, SZ, and YZ analyzed and discussed the experimental results, AY performed computational analysis and quantification, YZ supervised the experiments, XW, JB and YZ wrote the manuscript, AY, SM and SZ revised the manuscript, and all authors approved the manuscript. Authors declare no conflict of interest. All the authors declare no conflict of interest.Attached Files
Submitted - 2021.06.14.448200v1.full.pdf
Supplemental Material - media-1.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Meristem development in fern gametophytes
- Eprint ID
- 109505
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210621-170112415
- Purdue University
- IOS-1931114
- NSF
- Created
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2021-06-21Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-02Created from EPrint's last_modified field