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Multiple innovations underpinned branching form diversification in mosses
Author(s) -
Coudert Yoan,
Bell Neil E.,
Edelin Claude,
Harrison C. Jill
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.14553
Subject(s) - bryophyte , moss , biology , evolutionary biology , branching (polymer chemistry) , diversification (marketing strategy) , apical cell , botany , convergent evolution , ecology , phylogenetics , genetics , materials science , marketing , gene , cell , business , composite material
Summary Broad‐scale evolutionary comparisons have shown that branching forms arose by convergence in vascular plants and bryophytes, but the trajectory of branching form diversification in bryophytes is unclear. Mosses are the most species‐rich bryophyte lineage and two sub‐groups are circumscribed by alternative reproductive organ placements. In one, reproductive organs form apically, terminating growth of the primary shoot (gametophore) axis. In the other, reproductive organs develop on very short lateral branches. A switch from apical to lateral reproductive organ development is proposed to have primed branching form diversification. Moss gametophores have modular development and each module develops from a single apical cell. Here we define the architectures of 175 mosses by the number of module classes, branching patterns and the pattern in which similar modules repeat. Using ancestral character state reconstruction we identify two stages of architectural diversification. During a first stage there were sequential changes in the module repetition pattern, reproductive organ position, branching pattern and the number of module classes. During a second stage, vegetative changes occurred independently of reproductive fate. The results pinpoint the nature of developmental change priming branching form diversification in mosses and provide a framework for mechanistic studies of architectural diversification.