For more than 225 million y, all seed plants were woody trees, shrubs, or vines. Shortly after the origin of angiosperms ∼140 million y ago (MYA), the Nymphaeales (water lilies) became one of the first lineages to deviate from their ancestral, woody habit by losing the vascular cambium, the meristematic population of cells that produces secondary xylem (wood) and phloem. Many of the genes and gene families that regulate differentiation of secondary tissues also regulate the differentiation of primary xylem and phloem, which are produced by apical meristems and retained in nearly all seed plants. Here, we sequenced and assembled a draft genome of the water lily
While monocots lack the ability to produce a vascular cambium or woody growth, some monocot lineages evolved a novel lateral meristem, the monocot cambium, which supports secondary radial growth of stems. In contrast to the vascular cambium found in woody angiosperm and gymnosperm species, the monocot cambium produces secondary vascular bundles, which have an amphivasal organization of tracheids encircling a central strand of phloem. Currently there is no information concerning the molecular genetic basis of the development or evolution of the monocot cambium. Here we report high‐quality transcriptomes for monocot cambium and early derivative tissues in two monocot genera,
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10035023
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Integrative Plant Biology
- Volume:
- 59
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1672-9072
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 436-449
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Nymphaea thermarum , an emerging system for the study of early flowering plant evolution, and compared it to genomes from other cambium-bearing and cambium-less lineages (e.g., monocots andNelumbo ). This revealed lineage-specific patterns of gene loss and divergence.Nymphaea is characterized by a significant contraction of the HD-ZIP III transcription factors, specifically loss ofREVOLUTA , which influences cambial activity in other angiosperms. We also found theNymphaea and monocot copies of cambium-associated CLE signaling peptides display unique substitutions at otherwise highly conserved amino acids.Nelumbo displays no obvious divergence in cambium-associated genes. The divergent genomic signatures of convergent loss of vascular cambium reveals that even pleiotropic genes can exhibit unique divergence patterns in association with independent events of trait loss. Our results shed light on the evolution of herbaceousness—one of the key biological innovations associated with the earliest phases of angiosperm evolution. -
Premise The young seedling life stage is critical for reforestation after disturbance and for species migration under climate change, yet little is known regarding their basic hydraulic function or vulnerability to drought. Here, we sought to characterize responses to desiccation including hydraulic vulnerability, xylem anatomical traits, and impacts on other stem tissues that contribute to hydraulic functioning.
Methods Larix occidentalis ,Pseudotsuga menziesii , andPinus ponderosa (all ≤6 weeks old) were imaged using x‐ray computed microtomography during desiccation to assess seedling biomechanical responses with concurrently measured hydraulic conductivity (k s) and water potential (Ψ ) to assess vulnerability to xylem embolism formation and other tissue damage.Results In non‐stressed samples for all species, pith and cortical cells appeared circular and well hydrated, but they started to empty and deform with decreasing
Ψ which resulted in cell tearing and eventual collapse. Despite the severity of this structural damage, the vascular cambium remained well hydrated even under the most severe drought. There were significant differences among species in vulnerability to xylem embolism formation, with 78% xylem embolism inL. occidentalis byΨ of −2.1 MPa, but only 47.7% and 62.1% inP. ponderosa andP. menziesii at −4.27 and −6.73 MPa, respectively.Conclusions Larix occidentalis seedlings appeared to be more susceptible to secondary xylem embolism compared to the other two species, but all three maintained hydration of the vascular cambium under severe stress, which could facilitate hydraulic recovery by regrowth of xylem when stress is relieved. -
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Summary We analyze the oldest fossil occurrences of wound‐response periderm to characterize the development of wound responses in early tracheophytes. The origin of periderm production by a cambium (phellogen), an innovation with key roles in protection of inner plant tissues, is poorly explored; understanding periderm development in early tracheophytes can illuminate key aspects of this process.
Anatomy of wound‐response tissues is characterized in serial sections in a new Early Devonian (Emsian;
c . 400 Ma) euphyllophyte from Quebec (Canada) –Nebuloxyla mikmaqiana sp. nov. – and compared to previously described euphyllophyte periderm from the same fossil locality to reconstruct periderm development.Characterizing development in these oldest periderm occurrences allows us to propose a model for the development of wound‐response periderm in early tracheophytes: by phellogen activity that is poorly coordinated laterally but bifacial, producing secondary tissues initially outwardly and subsequently inwardly.
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Abstract Background How vascular systems and their respiratory pigments evolved is still debated. While many animals present a vascular system, hemoglobin exists as a blood pigment only in a few groups (vertebrates, annelids, a few arthropod and mollusk species). Hemoglobins are formed of globin sub-units, belonging to multigene families, in various multimeric assemblages. It was so far unclear whether hemoglobin families from different bilaterian groups had a common origin.
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