Azolla domestication towards a biobased economy?
Due to its phenomenal growth requiring neither nitrogen fertilizer nor arable land and its biomass composition, the mosquito fern Azolla is a candidate crop to yield food, fuels and chemicals sustainably. To advance Azolla domestication, we research its dissemination, storage and transcriptome. Methods for dissemination, cross-fertilization and cryopreservation of the symbiosis Azolla filiculoides-Nostoc azollae are tested based on the fern spores. To study molecular processes in Azolla including spore induction, a database of 37 649 unigenes from RNAseq of microsporocarps, megasporocarps and sporophytes was assembled, then validated. Spores obtained year-round germinated in vitro within 26 d. In vitro fertilization rates reached 25%. Cryopreservation permitted storage for at least 7 months. The unigene database entirely covered central metabolism and to a large degree covered cellular processes and regulatory networks. Analysis of genes engaged in transition to sexual reproduction revealed a FLOWERING LOCUS T-like protein in ferns with special features induced in sporulating Azolla fronds. Although domestication of a fern-cyanobacteria symbiosis may seem a daunting task, we conclude that the time is ripe and that results generated will serve to more widely access biochemicals in fern biomass for a biobased economy.
Molecular Plant Physiology Department, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Paul
P
Brouwer
Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Andrea
A
Bräutigam
Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Canan
C
Külahoglu
Molecular Plant Physiology Department, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Anne O E
AOE
Tazelaar
Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Samantha
S
Kurz
Organic Geochemistry, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Klaas G J
KGJ
Nierop
Plant Research International, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Adrie
A
van der Werf
Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Andreas P M
APM
Weber
Molecular Plant Physiology Department, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Henriette
H
Schluepmann
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018548:Cotyledon / Q000254:growth & development; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D015925:Cryopreservation; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D003890:Desiccation; D029624:Ferns / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D005306:Fertilization; D005615:Freezing; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000235:genetics; D018525:Germination; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013170:Spores / Q000254:growth & development; D013559:Symbiosis
D010940:Plant Proteins
Azolla filiculoides; RNAseq; biobased economy; cryopreservation; domestication; fern; sexual reproduction