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

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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.