title: Eight types of stem cells in the life cycle of the moss Physcomitrella patens.
abstract: Stem cells self-renew and produce cells that differentiate to become the source of the plant body. The moss Physcomitrella patens forms eight types of stem cells during its life cycle and serves as a useful model in which to explore the evolution of such cells. The common ancestor of land plants is inferred to have been haplontic and to have formed stem cells only in the gametophyte generation. A single stem cell would have been maintained in the ancestral gametophyte meristem, as occurs in extant basal land plants. During land plant evolution, stem cells diverged in the gametophyte generation to form different types of body parts, including the protonema and rhizoid filaments, leafy-shoot and thalloid gametophores, and gametangia formed in moss. A simplex meristem with a single stem cell was acquired in the sporophyte generation early in land plant evolution. Subsequently, sporophyte stem cells became multiple in the meristem and were elaborated further in seed plant lineages, although the evolutionary origin of niche cells, which maintain stem cells is unknown. Comparisons of gene regulatory networks are expected to give insights into the general mechanisms of stem cell formation and maintenance in land plants and provide information about their evolution. P. patens develops at least seven types of simplex meristem in the gametophyte and at least one type in the sporophyte generation and is a good material for regulatory network comparisons. In this review, we summarize recently revealed molecular mechanisms of stem cell initiation and maintenance in the moss.
authors: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
authors: Rumiko
authors: R
authors: Kofuji
authors: National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan; Department of Basic Biology, Graduate School of Advanced Studies, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan. Electronic address: mhasebe@nibb.ac.jp.
authors: Mitsuyasu
authors: M
authors: Hasebe
mesh_terms: D019068:Bryopsida / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D055993:Germ Cells, Plant / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins