Functional analysis of the complete MADS-box gene family in the moss, physcomitrella patens

MADS-box基因是所有种子植物花型形成（包括被子植物花的节段组织）的遗传程序中不可或缺的元素。 因此，MADS-box基因是最有名的，他们的作用，在调节过渡的茎顶端分生组织到花序和花分生组织，并在确定花器官（萼片，花瓣，雄蕊和心皮）的身份。 它们也在非开花植物中发现，包括针叶树，买麻藤，蕨类植物，石松和苔藓。 在少数情况下，已经表明特定的非开花植物MADS盒基因显示出与开花植物MADS盒基因的不同子集相似的表达模式。 因此，非开花植物基因的发现提出了一种有趣的可能性，即高等植物和至少某些低等植物中控制生殖结构分化和其他重要发育转变的机制基本上是相似的，并且在进化上是保守的。 为了获得有关基因的祖先功能的线索，这些基因现在参与调节专门的发育过程，如花的产生，这里提出的研究将确定苔藓，小立碗藓的MADS盒基因的整个补体的作用和表达模式。 这种植物模型系统为这类研究提供了独特的机会，因为它的整个基因组已经测序，并且可以进行复杂的遗传分析。 所获得的结果，当与其他植物中的这个基因家族的信息相结合时，应该提供一个更深刻的理解MADS盒多基因家族的进化及其功能，以及各种主要的陆地植物类群和结构的进化，如被子植物花，它定义了它们中的每一个。

MADS-box genes are indispensable elements in the genetic programming of pattern formation, including the segmental organisation of angiosperm flowers, in all seed plants. Thus, MADS-box genes are best known for their roles in regulating the transition of shoot apical meristems into inflorescence and floral meristems and in the determination of floral organ (sepal, petal, stamen and carpel) identities. They have also been discovered in non-flowering plants including conifers, Gnetum, ferns, a clubmoss and a moss. In a few cases, it has been shown that specific non-flowering plant MADS-box genes display similar expression patterns to distinct subsets of flowering plant MADS-box genes. Therefore, discovery of the non-flowering plant genes has raised the intriguing possibility that mechanisms governing the differentiation of reproductive structures, and other important developmental transitions, in higher and at least some lower plants are fundamentally similar and evolutionarily conserved. To obtain clues about the ancestral functions of genes that are now involved in regulating specialised developmental processes such as the generation of flowers, the research proposed here will determine the roles and expression patterns of the entire complement of MADS-box genes of the moss, Physcomitrella patens. This plant model system offers unique opportunities for these kinds of study because its entire genome has been sequenced and it is amenable to sophisticated genetic analysis. The results obtained, when combined with information about this gene family in other plants, should provide a more profound comprehension of the evolution of the MADS-box multigene family and its functions as well as of the evolution of the various major land plant groups and structures, such as angiosperm flowers, which define each of them.