Project (Jan de Vries)
Comparative genomics and early plant evolution
A central question in evolutionary biology is how multicellularity evolved repeatedly from unicellular ancestors, giving rise to major lineages such as land plants (embryophytes)—the only organisms to have colonized terrestrial environments globally. The closest algal relatives of land plants, the Zygnematophyceae, are mostly unicellular or filamentous, offering a powerful model for understanding this transition. Research in my lab suggests that recurrent origins of multicellularity rely on an ancient genetic framework. We have recently expanded genomic resources for both unicellular and multicellular zygnematophytes, enabling direct comparisons between these forms. Our goal is to test whether unicellular and filamentous zygnematophytes share a conserved morphogenetic toolkit for multicellularity that parallels land plant development. Notably, cell division genes essential for embryophyte traits such as phragmoplast formation are co-expressed even in unicellular zygnematophytes. Using the organismal systems Mesotaenium endlicherianum, Zygnema circumcarinatum, and Physcomitrium patens, we will pursue three objectives: (1) build a time-course framework for cell division across these taxa; (2) identify morphogenetic cell division proteins by manipulating environmental cues and analyzing their regulatory feedback; and (3) probe conservation of division factors such as phragmoplast orienting kinases through cross-species complementation in Arabidopsis and cytoskeletal pull-down assays. Together, these efforts will illuminate how the dynamic deployment of ancient genes facilitated the rise of multicellularity in the ancestors of land plants.
Homepage Research Group
https://streptophytes.com/
https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/613776.html
Publications:
