Flowering plants have evolved from plants without flowers. It is known that the function of several genes, called MADS-box genes, creates shapes peculiar to flowers such as stamens, pistils, and petals. Although plants that do not produce flowers, such as mosses, ferns, and green algae are also known to have the MADS-box genes. However, it was not well understood how the MADS-box genes work in plants without flowers until now. In order to understand the mechanism of flower evolution, it is necessary to understand how the MADS-box genes work in plants without flowers.
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| A moss Physcomitrella patens in which six MADS-box genes are disrupted (right) forms a more elongated shoot than the normal moss does (left). This results in the prohibition of water uptake from the base to the top [Credit: Koshimizu & Hasebe] |
Professor Hasebe said, "Both the gametophore and sperm flagella have been lost in the process of evolution as the flowering plants adapted to the dry environment on land. Based on this, it is likely that the MADS-box genes that worked in the gametophore and sperm flagella became unnecessary, and that the flower might have evolved by reusing them for other functions. It is interesting that genetic regulatory networks of development are different between different lineages in plants, although they are relatively conserved in animals"
These research results were published in Nature Plants.
Source: National Institutes of Natural Sciences [January 10, 2018]
