Timing control of sexual reproduction in haploid-dominant plants: MFT and DOG1

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Meiotic sexual reproduction is a common feature of multicellular eukaryotes. In many organismal lineages either the haploid or diploid phase is multicellular. Land plants, however, evolved a peculiar haplodiplontic life cycle in which both the haploid gametophyte and the diploid sporophyte are multicellular. This alternation of generations apparently evolved by intercalation of mitoses at the stage of the zygote. Sexual reproduction in plants involves the generation of gamete-forming organs (gametangiogenesis), the formation of haploid gametes, fertilization to form the diploid zygote, embryogenesis, spore or seed formation, and finally the breaking of arrest/dormancy (germination). Timing of these steps, in particular the start (gametangiogenesis) and end (germination) of sexual reproduction, are controlled via regulatory networks that respond to environmental cues. Flowering plants perform a particularly complex and evolutionary derived form of sexual reproduction, and are difficult to study due to the reduction of the gametophytic generation. Here, we thus propose to study haploid-dominant plants, namely bryophytes, in which both generations are easily tractable. By applying a three-pronged candidate gene approach with subsequent reverse genetics studies we will aim to infer how time control of land plant sexual reproduction evolved.