Format: ORAL

Xiaolong Ren1,2, Xiaoxia Zhang1,3, Tian Zhang1,2, Xiaotong Qi1,2, Bo Xu1,3

1 State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China 2 China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Formation of gametes is a prerequisite step for sexual production. Unlike seed plants with highly reduced haploid generation, in which male gametogenesis is confined to few-celled gametophytes (pollens) and sperm cells are delivered by pollen tube, non-seed plants, including bryophytes, lycophytes, and ferns, undergo serial well-defined changes between cell fate determinations and differentiations to produce flagellated sperm cells in elaborate gametophytes. The flagellate sperm cell is regarded as the ancestral trait of land plants, and has been lost when seed plants arise with evolution of pollen. Taking advantage of Marchantia polymorpha, the model bryophyte species, we drive forward our understanding of genetic networks underlying male gametogenesis, by identifying key transcription factors regulating developmental switches of gametogenic progression. In this talk, we will present our recent progress of male gametogenic regulation in M. polymorpha, and will deliver an insightful understanding of male gametogenesis evolution in land plants, with a particular focus on evolutionary shift of gametophyte-dominant to sporophyte-dominant generation.