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Summary Despite their key phylogenetic position and their unique biology, hornworts have been widely overlooked. Until recently there was no hornwort model species amenable to systematic experimental investigation.
Anthoceros agrestis has been proposed as the model species to study hornwort biology.We have developed an
Agrobacterium ‐mediated method for the stable transformation ofA. agrestis , a hornwort model species for which a genetic manipulation technique was not yet available.High transformation efficiency was achieved by using thallus tissue grown under low light conditions. We generated a total of 274 transgenic
A. agrestis lines expressing the β‐glucuronidase (GUS), cyan, green, and yellow fluorescent proteins under control of the CaMV 35S promoter and several endogenous promoters. Nuclear and plasma membrane localization with multiple color fluorescent proteins was also confirmed.The transformation technique described here should pave the way for detailed molecular and genetic studies of hornwort biology, providing much needed insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying symbiosis, carbon‐concentrating mechanism, RNA editing and land plant evolution in general.
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Summary Extant land plants consist of two deeply divergent groups, tracheophytes and bryophytes, which shared a common ancestor some 500 million years ago. While information about vascular plants and the two of the three lineages of bryophytes, the mosses and liverworts, is steadily accumulating, the biology of hornworts remains poorly explored. Yet, as the sister group to liverworts and mosses, hornworts are critical in understanding the evolution of key land plant traits. Until recently, there was no hornwort model species amenable to systematic experimental investigation, which hampered detailed insight into the molecular biology and genetics of this unique group of land plants. The emerging hornwort model species,
Anthoceros agrestis , is instrumental in our efforts to better understand not only hornwort biology but also fundamental questions of land plant evolution. To this end, here we provide an overview of hornwort biology and current research on the model plantA .agrestis to highlight its potential in answering key questions of land plant biology and evolution.
