Format: ORAL

Javier Jauregui-Lazo, Florian Deligne, and Siobhan Brady

Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, University of California Davis, USA

In contrast to vascular plants, most mosses rely on external water transport and absorption over the entire plant surface, a condition known as ectohydry. Morphological characters (i.e. papillae) create capillary pathways or increase the surface area to facilitate water uptake and transportation. As a moss acquires water, small chambers and capillary spaces fill up with water and the moss expands rapidly. Then, a new set of structural features appear, ranging from modifications in their overall morphology to extensive changes of cells in the leaf. The way these features develop over time, function, and/or reflect adaptation to different environmental regimes is an area that remains poorly understood in mosses. This research applies genomics and cutting-edge imaging to (1) characterize leaf development with respect to water-related traits, (2) identify how stages of leaf development facilitate ectohydric capabilities and relate to changes in water conducting cell types, (3) identify gene expression profiles in response to dehydration/hydration cycles in the moss S. caninervis. This presentation will describe preliminary data encompassing multiple biological levels of organization (cells, tissues, and organs) along with cutting-edge confocal microscopy to provide a basis for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying leaf organogenesis, and more broadly how plants evolve complex traits crucial for their adaptation to terrestrial environments.