Frontier Bioscience - 400 Million Years of Sugar Transport in Plants: Unearthing the origin, evolution and genetic toolkit of the phloem

植物需要一个内部传导网络来将食物和水输送到它们的身体周围。这种传导网络被称为维管系统，由两个组织组成：水分传导木质部和食物传导韧皮部。在植物进化过程中获得这些组织是树木和作物从微小的苔藓状祖先进化而来的关键。尽管韧皮部在整个植物中运输糖以及其他各种化合物和信号分子很重要，但我们对它的进化或如何应对气候变化几乎一无所知。这个项目的目的是研究韧皮部在其4亿年历史上的演化，并回答关键的演化问题，如：(I)韧皮部起源于何时，(Ii)其结构、功能和遗传工具在过去4亿年中是如何演变的，(Iii)气候变化如何驱动韧皮部演化？

Plants require an internal conducting network to transport food and water around their bodies. This conducting network is termed vasculature and consists of two tissues; water conducting xylem and food conducting phloem. The acquisition of these tissues during plant evolution was key for the origin of trees and crops from tiny moss-like ancestors. Despite the importance of the phloem for transporting sugars as well as a diversity of other compounds and signalling molecules throughout plants we know almost nothing about its evolution or how it responds to climate change. The aim for this project is to study the evolution of the phloem over its 400 million year history and to answer key evolution questions such as: (i) when did the phloem originate, (ii) how has its structure, function and genetic toolkit evolved over the past 400 million years, (iii) how has phloem evolution been driven by climate change?