Contribution of the TGA/NPR network and redox-processes to the evolution of sexual reproduction

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The colonization of the land by plants and the subsequent successful radiation of land plants adapted to a terrestrial life style is a major event in Earth history and dates back around 500 MYs. The analysis of the contribution and functional diversification of transcription factors (TFs), given their capacity to regulate the expression levels of numerous target genes in parallel, is of prime interest. This allows to understand the origin of morphological and biochemical reproductive innovations that were able to adapt land plants and their sexual reproduction processes to the exposure of novel biotic and abiotic challenges associated with a new life form outside a protective aquatic environment. Redox-regulation, integrating signaling processes involving reactive oxygen species (ROS), is emerging as a novel mechanism controlling TF functions in developmental processes. Here, we aim to unravel TGA/NPR activities and the impact of redox-processes in the regulation of sexual reproduction in land plants. To understand the contribution of the TF/coregulator network to the formation of increasingly complex reproduction modes of land plants, their networks will be investigated by functional and molecular analyses in interesting, evolutionary informative land plants.