Analysis of TCP transcription factors and downstream regulatory networks in the basal land plant Marchantia polymorpha

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Arabidopsis thaliana TCP genes are transcription factors that regulate cell division processes and shape thereby the plant architecture. Recently, further functions in signaling processes and plant immunity have been reported. However, knowledge about the evolution of their divers activities is lacking. The basal land plant Marchantia polymorpha is a liverwort with a crucial, informative phylogenetic position. Marchantia has been established as a novel genetic model organism and comprises almost all gene families, however with low gene numbers. 21 TCP genes exist in Arabidopsis and only two in Marchantia, avoiding gene redundancy effects known to hamper other functional TCP analyses. The goal of this project is to unravel the TCP functions by analyzing knockout and knockdown mutants. Downstream regulatory networks will be identified and selected target genes will be further characterized. Phylogeny reconstructions will shed light on the evolution of TCP genes and enable to identify interesting motives and amino acids. These analyses aim to conduct comparative studies with eudicot TCP genes to understand the molecular evolution of their functions and how they contributed to the formation of increasingly complex land plants.