Adaptive evolution of the enigmatic Takakia now facing climate change in Tibet.

The most extreme environments are the most vulnerable to transformation under a rapidly changing climate. These ecosystems harbor some of the most specialized species, which will likely suffer the highest extinction rates. We document the steepest temperature increase (2010-2021) on record at altitudes of above 4,000 m, triggering a decline of the relictual and highly adapted moss Takakia lepidozioides. Its de-novo-sequenced genome with 27,467 protein-coding genes includes distinct adaptations to abiotic stresses and comprises the largest number of fast-evolving genes under positive selection. The uplift of the study site in the last 65 million years has resulted in life-threatening UV-B radiation and drastically reduced temperatures, and we detected several of the molecular adaptations of Takakia to these environmental changes. Surprisingly, specific morphological features likely occurred earlier than 165 mya in much warmer environments. Following nearly 400 million years of evolution and resilience, this species is now facing extinction.

Microscopy of Physcomitrella patens sperm cells.

BACKGROUND: Archegoniates (bryophytes, ferns and gymnosperms), such as the moss Physcomitrella patens, possess freely motile sperm cells (spermatozoids) which reach the egg cell via surface water. Although these motile flagellated sperm cells are a traditional botanical subject, they have not been thoroughly analysed in the flagship non-seed plant model species P. patens. Protocols are required to determine the behaviour of wild type sperms as a prerequisite for future research such as the characterization of mutants or factors that influence sperm number, morphology, viability and motility. RESULTS: Here, we present protocols for the observation of fixed, as well as live sperms utilizing a standard microscope at intermediate magnifications. Fixed samples can be used for the fast assessment of sperm number and morphology. To determine functionality, the observation of live sperms is required. Protocols for determining both sperm motility and viability are provided, allowing both parameters to be distinguished. CONCLUSIONS: These step-by-step protocols are particularly useful for researchers so far not familiar with the analysis of motile gametes and are meant to aid the establishment and improvement of these analyses in order to stimulate research on spermatogenesis in the moss model species P. patens.

A phenol-enriched cuticle is ancestral to lignin evolution in land plants.

Lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers on Earth, derives from the plant phenolic metabolism. It appeared upon terrestrialization and is thought critical for plant colonization of land. Early diverging land plants do not form lignin, but already have elements of its biosynthetic machinery. Here we delete in a moss the P450 oxygenase that defines the entry point in angiosperm lignin metabolism, and find that its pre-lignin pathway is essential for development. This pathway does not involve biochemical regulation via shikimate coupling, but instead is coupled with ascorbate catabolism, and controls the synthesis of the moss cuticle, which prevents desiccation and organ fusion. These cuticles share common features with lignin, cutin and suberin, and may represent the extant representative of a common ancestor. Our results demonstrate a critical role for the ancestral phenolic metabolism in moss erect growth and cuticle permeability, consistent with importance in plant adaptation to terrestrial conditions.

A single homeobox gene triggers phase transition, embryogenesis and asexual reproduction.

Plants characteristically alternate between haploid gametophytic and diploid sporophytic stages. Meiosis and fertilization respectively initiate these two different ontogenies(1). Genes triggering ectopic embryo development on vegetative sporophytic tissues are well described(2,3); however, a genetic control of embryo development from gametophytic tissues remains elusive. Here, in the moss Physcomitrella patens we show that ectopic overexpression of the homeobox gene BELL1 induces embryo formation and subsequently reproductive diploid sporophytes from specific gametophytic cells without fertilization. In line with this, BELL1 loss-of-function mutants have a wild-type phenotype, except that their egg cells are bigger and unable to form embryos. Our results identify BELL1 as a master regulator for the gametophyte-to-sporophyte transition in P. patens and provide mechanistic insights into the evolution of embryos that can generate multicellular diploid sporophytes. This developmental innovation facilitated the colonization of land by plants about 500 million years ago(4) and thus shaped our current ecosystems.