Selection and establishment of charophyte algae model organisms (CharMod)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stefan A. Rensing; Professor Dr. Hendrik Schubert; Privatdozent Dr. Klaus von Schwartzenberg
• Subject Area: Plant Physiology ; Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410739858

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

The establishment of model organisms from within the streptopytic algae is regarded an important scientific topic to allow evo-devo studies in comparison with land plants. In this regard, the CharMod project focussed on Zygnematophyceae and Characeae species. For Spirogyra pratensis (MZCH 10213) as well as Chara braunii S276 plant material and culture protocols including initiation of oospore-germination were developed and made available to the community. Transient gene expression was observed upon particle gun, PEG-mediated, or microinjectionaided transformation. Gene expression analyses were performed to identify targets of temperature- and light-responsive genes, osmotic stress and cytokinin treatment. In conjunction with the CharKeyS project, the genome of S. pratensis was sequenced, and the genome of C. braunii improved.

Publications

• Expanding the molecular toolbox for Zygnematophyceae – transient genetic transformation of the desmid Micrasterias radians var. evoluta. European Journal of Phycology, 56(1), 51-60.
  Zhou, Hong; Wilkens, Alwine; Hanelt, Dieter & von, Schwartzenberg Klaus
  
• Zygnematophyceae: from living algae collections to the establishment of future models. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(11), 3296-3304.
  Zhou, Hong & von, Schwartzenberg Klaus
  
• Submergence of the filamentous Zygnematophyceae Mougeotia induces differential gene expression patterns associated with core metabolism and photosynthesis. Protoplasma, 259(5), 1157-1174.
  Fürst-Jansen, Janine M.R.; de Vries, Sophie; Lorenz, Maike; von Schwartzenberg, Klaus; Archibald, John M. & de Vries, Jan
  
• A phylogenomically informed five-order system for the closest relatives of land plants. Current Biology, 32(20), 4473-4482.e7.
  Hess, Sebastian; Williams, Shelby K.; Busch, Anna; Irisarri, Iker; Delwiche, Charles F.; de Vries, Sophie; Darienko, Tatyana; Roger, Andrew J.; Archibald, John M.; Buschmann, Henrik; von Schwartzenberg, Klaus & de Vries, Jan
  
• Establishment and optimization of a new model organism to study early land plant evolution: Germination, cultivation and oospore variation of Chara braunii Gmelin, 1826. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13.
  Holzhausen, Anja; Stingl, Nora; Rieth, Sophie; Kühn, Christine; Schubert, Hendrik & Rensing, Stefan Andreas
  
• Insight into the central and nodal cells transcriptome of the streptophyte green algaChara brauniiS276. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  Heß, Daniel; Holzhausen, Anja & Hess, Wolfgang R.
  
• Plastid DNA sequences and oospore characters of some European taxa of Tolypella section Tolypella (Characeae) identify five clusters, including one new cryptic Tolypella taxon from Sardinia, but they do not coincide with current morphological descriptions. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14.
  Holzhausen, Anja; Nowak, Petra; Ballot, Andreas; Becker, Ralf; Gebert, Jasmina; Gregor, Thomas; Karol, Kenneth G.; Lambert, Elisabeth; Pérez, William; Raabe, Uwe; Schneider, Susanne C.; Stewart, Nick; van de Weyer, Klaus; Wilde, Volker & Schubert, Hendrik
  
• Extant Oospores. Charophytes of Europe, 35-63. Springer Nature Switzerland.
  Holzhausen, Anja; Stewart, Nick; Sayer, Carl D.; Goldsmith, Ben & Casanova, Michelle T.
  
• Ontogenesis and Life Cycle of Charophytes. Charophytes of Europe, 13-33. Springer Nature Switzerland.
  Schubert, Hendrik; Holzhausen, Anja; Nowak, Petra & Casanova, Michelle T.