Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

The evolution of multicellular organisms was made possible by the evolution of underlying gene regulatory networks. In animals, the core of gene regulatory networks consists of kernels, stable subnetworks of transcription factors that are highly conserved in distantly related species. However, in plants it is not clear when and how kernels evolved. We show here that RSL (ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE SIX-LIKE) transcription factors form an ancient land plant kernel controlling caulonema differentiation in the moss Physcomitrella patens and root hair development in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that RSL proteins evolved in aquatic charophyte algae or in early land plants, and have been conserved throughout land plant radiation. Genetic and transcriptional analyses in loss of function A. thaliana and P. patens mutants suggest that the transcriptional interactions in the RSL kernel were remodeled and became more hierarchical during the evolution of vascular plants. We predict that other gene regulatory networks that control development in derived groups of plants may have originated in the earliest land plants or in their ancestors, the Charophycean algae.

Original publication

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1305457110

Type

Journal article

Journal

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Publication Date

04/06/2013

Volume

110

Pages

9571 - 9576

Keywords

auxin, bHLH, gametophyte, protonema, sporophyte, Amino Acid Sequence, Arabidopsis, Arabidopsis Proteins, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors, Bryopsida, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Gene Regulatory Networks, Molecular Sequence Data, Multigene Family, Phylogeny, Plant Roots, Sequence Alignment, Species Specificity