A collaborative research group at the Institute of Basic Biology, Kanazawa University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Miyagi University has found that a gene called the MADS-box gene, which helps to make flowers, has a completely different role in flowerless moss plants. Revealed for the first time.
After 30 years of research, it has become clear that several genes (called the MADS-box gene) work together to produce flowers.However, on the other hand, there is a fact that the MADS-box gene was discovered in ferns that do not have flowers 20 years ago.No clear conclusions have been reached as to how the MADS-box genes work in flowerless plants and how those genes have evolved to produce flowers. rice field.
Therefore, this time, the joint research group analyzed all six MADS-box genes of the flowerless moss plant Physcomitrella patens, and these genes are related to "cell division and elongation of foliage" and "movement of sperm flagella". For the first time, it was revealed that it has two functions.
Both the foliage and the sperm flagella have degenerated and disappeared in flowering plants (evolved to adapt to dryness).From this, it was found that the MADS-box gene, which worked in the foliage and sperm flagella, was no longer needed during evolution, and it was reused for another function, and it is highly possible that the flower evolved.
This research result was published in the international academic journal "Nature Plants" on January 2018, 1.
Paper information:[Nature Plants] Physcomitrella MADS-box genes regulate water supply and sperm movement for fertilization