SPP 2237:  MAdLand — Molecular Adaptation to Land: plant evolution to change

• Subject Area: Biology ; Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Chemistry ; Geosciences ; Medicine
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422691801

One of the most remarkable challenges mastered by plants was the water-to-land-transition (plant terrestrialisation) that occurred more than 500 million years ago. This change in habitat required molecular adaptations to cope with an array of new stresses. Plant terrestrialisation transformed Earth’s atmosphere and soil cover, priming Earth for life as we know it. The Phragmoplastophyta comprise three lineages of streptophyte algae and the land plants (Embryophyta). Evolving from within the streptophytes, the earliest land plants gained features such as stomata as well as the cuticle and made use of fungal symbioses to gain access to nutrients. These traits are thought to have been instrumental for the habitat transition of plant life. Initially morphologically simple plants evolved a complexity that allowed them to conquer ever more habitats. In MAdLand, we use a comparative and functional evolutionary approach, encompassing streptophyte algae and non-seed plants as models, to study the genetic mechanisms underpinning the dramatic environmental adaptation to conditions on land and the evolution of plant complexity. During the first funding period of MAdLand, we already pinpointed important genetic mechanisms in adaptive evolution of plant morphology, physiology, biochemistry, cell biology and biotic interactions – and identified the ancestry of processes from which the diversity of land plants evolved. Now, in the second period, we will scrutinise these genetic mechanisms in light of streptophyte diversification with the aid of the new resources now established. These data will be used to infer properties of the most recent common ancestors of all land plants as well as those shared by land plants and their algal relatives. In MAdLand, we will address key questions in plant evolution: Which features enabling the conquest of land evolved in streptophyte algae? What is the nature of the most recent common ancestor of (i) all extant land plants and (ii) of land plants and algae? What is the succession and nature of molecular adaptations in early land plant evolution? How did embryogenesis and the alternation of generations evolve? How did organismic interaction of plants with fungi and bacteria evolve? What are the molecular evolutionary drivers of tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses? Using a broad suite of biological methods and cross-discipline knowledge ranging from phylogenetic, molecular, physiological, genetic and cell biological approaches to the study of organismic interaction and biodiversity, we will study the following representatives of major non-seed plant lineages: (a) emerging model system Chara braunii (Charopyhceae), Spirogyra pratensis, Mesotaenium endlicherianum, and Zygnema circumcarinatum (Zygnematophyceae), Anthoceros agrestis (hornwort), Riccia fluitans (liverwort) Ceratopteris richardii, and Azolla filiculoides (ferns); the (b) established model systems Marchantia polymorpha (liverwort) and Physcomitrium patens (moss).

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Australia, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Projects

• Adaptations of chloroplast protein transport mechanisms during land plant evolution (Applicant Schünemann, Danja )
• AlgaTerrest: How the evolution of cell division and filament branching enabled the transition from algae to land plants. (Applicant Buschmann, Henrik )
• Analyzing the evolutionary chemodiversity, metabolism, and function of sphingolipids in the zygnematophyceaen algae, Spirogyra pratensis and Mougeotia scalaris and the bryophytes Marchantia polymorpha and Physcomitrella patens (Applicant Feußner, Ivo )
• Ancient function and subsequent evolution of CBL/CIPK Ca2+-sensor/kinase complexes during adaptation to land (Applicant Kudla, Jörg )
• Appearance and role of CuZnSOD proteins during early land plant evolution (Applicant Schippers, Jozefus Hendrikus Maria )
• Bryotherm - Thermomorphogenesis as a mechanism to adapt to elevated temperatures in early land plant evolution (Applicant Quint, Marcel )
• Carotology: Are apocarotenoids conserved modulators of streptophyte physiology? (Applicant de Vries, Jan )
• Co-evolution and molecular adaptation of the MLO-EXO70 functional module in the course of plant terrestrialization (Applicant Panstruga, Ralph )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Rensing, Stefan A. )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant de Vries, Jan )
• DiversiPHY and conquer — Diversification of phytochromes during plant terrestrialisation (Applicant Hiltbrunner, Andreas )
• Evolution of AGC1 kinase-mediated polarity modules in early land plant development (Applicant Schwechheimer, Claus )
• Evolution of biophysical carbon concentrating mechanisms from green algae to hornworts (Applicants Szovenyi, Peter ;  Wicke, Susann )
• Evolution of lipid droplet-associated proteins and their role in drought resistance (Applicant Ischebeck, Till )
• Evolution of novel RHO OF PLANTS signalling activators during the adaptation from water to land. (Applicant Denninger, Philipp )
• Evolution of plant calcium and electrical signaling networks during the conquest of land (Applicants Becker, Dirk ;  Hedrich, Rainer )
• Evolution of plastid FAX (fatty acid export) proteins and the plants' conquest of land - molecular and metabolic adaptation (Applicant Philippar, Katrin )
• Evolution of salicylic acid pathway (Applicants Feußner, Ivo ;  Melkonian, Michael ;  Nakagami, Ph.D., Hirofumi )
• Evolution of the regulatory networks governing developmental adaptations and acclimation responses in Charophycean green algae towards plant life on land (Applicant Hess, Wolfgang R. )
• Evolutionarily conserved links between regulating phosphate starvation and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in plants (EvoSymPho) (Applicants Becker, Burkhard ;  Bucher, Marcel )
• Evolutionary adaptations of the microtubule cytoskeleton during cell division in the land plant lineage (Applicant Bürstenbinder, Katharina )
• Evolutionary adaptations of the plastid transcription machinery as one key element in plant terrestrialisation (Applicant Pfannschmidt, Thomas )
• Evolutionary dynamics of peroxisome functions and biogenesis facilitating plant terrestrialization (Applicant Reumann, Sigrun )
• Evolutionary impact of small RNA-dependent gene expression in bryophytes during the molecular adaptation for life on land (Applicant Frank, Wolfgang )
• Experimental fossilization of early plant lipids — tracing incipient terrestrialization using a comparative approach with extant bryophytes and Cambrian-Silurian sediments (Applicant Hallmann, Ph.D., Christian )
• From a monoplastidic ancestor to multifaceted polyplastidy in land plants (Applicant Gould, Sven B. )
• Inferring the nature of the most recent common ancestor of plants (Applicant Rensing, Stefan A. )
• Interplay between carbon concentrating mechanism and osmoregulation / ion-regulation in Charophytes: chance or obstacle for adaptation to terrestrial conditions? (ICOR) (Applicants Hagemann, Martin ;  Schubert, Hendrik )
• LandWall: Understanding the remodelling and recruitment of internal and external hemicelluloses in the cell walls of land-conquering Zygnematophyceae and the liverwort Marchantia (Applicant Herburger, Ph.D., Klaus )
• MADS life on MAdLand II: Changes in DNA-binding specificity of MADS-domain transcription factors during the transition of plants to land (Applicant Theißen, Günter )
• Metabolism of phenolic natural compounds at the threshold to life on land (Applicant Petersen, Maike )
• Molecular adaptations to light during the water-to-land transition using the moss Physcomitrium patens and the charophyte alga Mesotaenium endlicherianum (Applicant Höcker, Ute )
• Plant cell wall evolution: exploring changes necessary for life on land with focus on streptophyte algae and bryophytes (Applicant Classen, Birgit )
• Role of the male germ line for the alternation of generations (Applicant Gould, Sven B. )
• Structural and evolutionary comparison of the chloroplast translocon during streptophyte algae land colonization (Applicant Schuller, Jan Michael )
• TERRAPHOS - Evolution of Phosphate Scouting during Plant Terrestrialization (Applicants Abel, Steffen ;  Naumann, Christin )
• The amphibious liverwort Riccia fluitans: A novel model organism to analyze adaptive land plant features (Applicant Zachgo, Sabine )
• The evolution of plasmodesmata (Applicant Ehlers, Katrin )
• The function of trehalose 6-phosphate in bryophytes and during the evolution of life on land (Applicant Fichtner, Franziska )
• Understanding the ancestral function of RCO/LMI1 type homeobox genes in early-divergent land plants. (Applicant Tsiantis, Miltos )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jan de Vries