Diversification of Gene Function during the Evolution of Land Plants

• Applicant: Dr. Holger Breuninger
• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 323084132

The evolutionary increase in morphological complexity of land plants was accompanied by an increase in regulatory proteins encoded in their genomes, suggesting that a more complex gene regulation has been crucial in the development of novel tissue types and other adaptation. Gene duplication and diversification is therefore likely to be a major driving force in the evolution of land plants. The research of this proposal aims to uncover the evolutionary processes leading to the diversification of gene function in gene regulatory networks. To this end, functional changes which occurred during the radiation of a highly conserved and diverging gene family of bHLH transcription factors, the LRL genes, will be investigated. By characterising the functional differences between early derived land plants like Marchantia polymorpha and relatively diverged plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana on a genome wide level, it will be possible to investigate how novel regulatory pathways evolved while important key pathways were maintained simultaneously. Ultimately, the results of this research will be complemented by a comparable analysis of a second major transcription factor family, the WOX genes. Together this research will 1) lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the diversification of gene function and 2) evaluate the impact of transcriptional regulation on the evolution of novel tissue types and organs.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants