Frangedakis Eftychios, Shimamura Masaki, Villarreal Juan Carlos, Li Fay-Wei, Tomaselli Marta, Waller Manuel, Sakakibara Keiko, Renzaglia Karen S, Szövényi Péter
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 EA, UK.
Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, 739-8528, Japan.
New Phytol. 2021 Jan;229(2):735-754. doi: 10.1111/nph.16874. Epub 2020 Sep 15.
Extant land plants consist of two deeply divergent groups, tracheophytes and bryophytes, which shared a common ancestor some 500 million years ago. While information about vascular plants and the two of the three lineages of bryophytes, the mosses and liverworts, is steadily accumulating, the biology of hornworts remains poorly explored. Yet, as the sister group to liverworts and mosses, hornworts are critical in understanding the evolution of key land plant traits. Until recently, there was no hornwort model species amenable to systematic experimental investigation, which hampered detailed insight into the molecular biology and genetics of this unique group of land plants. The emerging hornwort model species, Anthoceros agrestis, is instrumental in our efforts to better understand not only hornwort biology but also fundamental questions of land plant evolution. To this end, here we provide an overview of hornwort biology and current research on the model plant A. agrestis to highlight its potential in answering key questions of land plant biology and evolution.
现存的陆地植物由两个差异极大的类群组成，即维管植物和苔藓植物，它们在约5亿年前拥有共同的祖先。虽然关于维管植物以及苔藓植物三个谱系中的两个谱系（藓类植物和苔类植物）的信息在不断积累，但角苔类植物的生物学特性仍未得到充分探索。然而，作为苔类植物和藓类植物的姐妹类群，角苔类植物对于理解关键陆地植物性状的进化至关重要。直到最近，还没有适合进行系统实验研究的角苔类模式物种，这阻碍了我们对这一独特陆地植物类群的分子生物学和遗传学的深入了解。新出现的角苔类模式物种田野角苔，不仅有助于我们更好地理解角苔类植物的生物学特性，也有助于解答陆地植物进化的基本问题。为此，我们在此概述角苔类植物的生物学特性以及对模式植物田野角苔的当前研究，以突出其在回答陆地植物生物学和进化关键问题方面的潜力。
