title: Studies of Physcomitrella patens reveal that ethylene-mediated submergence responses arose relatively early in land-plant evolution.
abstract: Colonization of the land by multicellular green plants was a fundamental step in the evolution of life on earth. Land plants evolved from fresh-water aquatic algae, and the transition to a terrestrial environment required the acquisition of developmental plasticity appropriate to the conditions of water availability, ranging from drought to flood. Here we show that extant bryophytes exhibit submergence-induced developmental plasticity, suggesting that submergence responses evolved relatively early in the evolution of land plants. We also show that a major component of the bryophyte submergence response is controlled by the phytohormone ethylene, using a perception mechanism that has subsequently been conserved throughout the evolution of land plants. Thus a plant environmental response mechanism with major ecological and agricultural importance probably had its origins in the very earliest stages of the colonization of the land.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UKPlant Ecophysiology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasumura
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pierik
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Fricker
authors.forename: Laurentius A C J
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Voesenek
authors.forename: Nicholas P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Harberd
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019068:Bryopsida / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D055864:Droughts; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014867:Water / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C083750:ethylene receptors, plant; D014867:Water; C036216:ethylene