Organ geometry channels reproductive cell fate in the Arabidopsis ovule primordium

In multicellular organisms, sexual reproduction requires the separation of the germline from the soma. In flowering plants, the female germline precursor differentiates as a single spore mother cell (SMC) as the ovule primordium forms. Here, we explored how organ growth contributes to SMC differentiation. We generated 92 annotated 3D images at cellular resolution in Arabidopsis. We identified the spatio-temporal pattern of cell division that acts in a domain-specific manner as the primordium forms. Tissue growth models uncovered plausible morphogenetic principles involving a spatially confined growth signal, differential mechanical properties, and cell growth anisotropy. Our analysis revealed that SMC characteristics first arise in more than one cell but SMC fate becomes progressively restricted to a single cell during organ growth. Altered primordium geometry coincided with a delay in the fate restriction process in katanin mutants. Altogether, our study suggests that tissue geometry channels reproductive cell fate in the Arabidopsis ovule primordium.

Cryptospores: The Origin and Early Evolution of the Terrestrial Flora

The Cryptogamic, or spore-producing, plants of today are composed of three nonvascular, bryophyte groups (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) and several vascular groups (ferns, club mosses, and horsetails). All of these plants produce abundant spores, which serve as propagules for dispersing and, to some extent, preserving plants through periods of ecological stress. Plant spores are typically formed as the end products of meiosis (reduction division) from a dividing sporocyte, or spore mother cell (smc). Because of this, they typically occur in groups of four, with each individual spore bearing a characteristic trilete, or Y-shaped mark on its common contact surface. Spore walls, composed of an inert, heterogeneous polymer called sporopollenin, are extremely resistant to the chemical vicissitudes of the terrestrial environment. This property of typical plant spores ultimately allows them to be quite abundant in fine grained clastic rocks. Although fossilized spores represent only a small part of the once-living plant, in many cases, they represent an important component of the plant fossil record, especially when the preservation of macroscopic tissues is lacking.

Occurrence and phylogenetic significance of monoplastidic meiosis in liverworts

Monoplastidic meiosis is reported for the first time in three seemingly unrelated liverworts, namely Blasia pusilla (Metzgeriales), Monoclea gottschei (Monocleales), and Haplomitrium blumei (Haplomitriales). A second species of Haplomitrium, H. hookeri, is polyplastidic as previously reported. All three taxa represent isolated relicts of ancient liverwort lineages. Monoplastidy in these hepatics is evident in archesporial tissue and is maintained through successive sporogenous cell generations. In archesporial mitosis, the single plastid divides and the two resultant plastids are precisely positioned so that one is inherited by each daughter cell. In the nascent spore mother cell, the solitary plastid undergoes two successive divisions and the resulting four plastids become positioned in a tetrahedral arrangement. Concomitantly, the sporocyte assumes a quadrilobed shape, which is less exaggerated in Monoclea, and a single large plastid is situated in each lobe. Details of plastid ultrastructure and morphology vary slightly among the three taxa. Evidence is presented that Blasia and Monoclea share a common ancestry and represent pivotal taxa in the evolution of the two main lines of liverworts. Haplomitrium is suggested to occupy a more basal position in bryophyte phylogeny. Monoplastidy in meiosis of liverworts links the charophytes, the three bryophyte clades, and the lycopsid pteridophytes and supports a monophyletic interpretation of land plant phylogeny. Key words: chloroplast, liverwort, meiosis, monoplastidy, phylogeny, sporogenesis.

Establishment of Plastid-Based Quadripolarity in Spore Mother Cells of the moss Funaria Hygrometrica

Development of a tetrad of meiospores is one of the most widespread examples of geometrically precise cell morphogenesis in plants. We have studied the process in the moss Funaria hygrometrica. Changes leading to a quadripolar organization of the prophase spore mother cell (SMC) start in the archesporial cells several cell generations before meiosis. The number of plastids per cell is reduced to two and these play an increasing part in subsequent mitoses and meiosis. During meiotic prophase, the plastids elongate until they enclose the peripheral nucleus. The nucleus is then drawn back into the centre of the cell as the plastids rotate and ultimately assume a mutually perpendicular configuration. The tips of the plastids thus lie at the vertices of a tetrahedron arranged around the nucleus, which itself becomes deformed into a tetrahedral shape. Quadripolarity has now been set up in anticipation of the two meiotic divisions. The first division spindle is also somewhat tetrahedral, with broad poles oriented perpendicular to one another along two opposite edges of the tetrahedron. As a consequence, the daughter nuclei are, from their inception, mutually perpendicular and elongated along the first spindle poles, ready for the second division, which places one haploid nucleus opposite each of the four plastid tips. Simultaneous cytokinesis then bisects the plastids and generates a tetrad of spores. The morphological evidence thus indicates that the plastids are involved in the development of internal quadripolarity in the outwardly apolar SMCs.

ON A RETICULAR DERIVATIVE FROM GOLGI BODIES IN THE MERISTEM OF Anthoceros

Micrographs of dictyosomes in face view and in profile, together with serial sections representing both these planes, are reproduced from three sample cells at different developmental stages in the meristem of Anthoceros. The stages are: a vegetative cell at anaphase of a mitotic division, a vegetative cell in an early stage of postmitotic extension growth, and a young spore mother cell in the act of rounding up before the onset of meiosis. The observations suggest that proliferation of tubules from the edges of the dictyosomal cisternae into the cytoplasm is occurring with varying intensity and with slightly different morphological expression in all three cells. In all, the tubules are joined into a reticulum which exhibits local swellings at varying distances from the unfenestrated part of the subtending cisterna. A comparison is suggested between the observed reticulum and "smooth" endoplasmic reticulum of animals but it is not claimed that all the cytoplasmic tubules detectable in Anthoceros need have arisen in this way. Morphological differences discernible between tubules near their point of attachment to dictyosomes and others apparently involved in the formation of the new nuclear membrane at the end of a cell division could mean that more than one category of tube may exist in these cells. A plea is registered for restraint in the formulation of far reaching theories until more facts are available on unequivocal evidence.

Changes in the nuclear structure of bacteria, particularly during spore formation

Changes of nuclear structure in bacteria have been studied by means of the hydrochloric acid-Giemsa method which produces brilliantly stained specimens and can be carried out with almost the same ease as some of the ordinary routine staining techniques.The nuclear changes in the four spore-bearing organisms studied are outlined in Text-fig. III, to which the following numbers refer. The dumbbell bodies which are dispersed in the cells of the young growth (1) become alined in the long axis of the cell (2) where they eventually fuse into an axial nuclear cylinder (3, 4). These cells divide up into fusion cells of approximately the same length (5). The development of the ‘chromosome’ stage (1) into the fusion cell (5) is the first step in the process of sporulation. During its further development the fusion cell or spore mother cell divides twice (6, 7), with the result that it is segregated into four structures which often assume dumbbell shape. Therefore the chromatin cylinder of the individual spore mother cell seems to be equivalent to four nuclear elements one of which functions as the spore ‘chromosome’ (‘nucleus’?), whereas the remaining three disintegrate (8, 9). The ripe spore (9) representing, as it does, the smallest cell unit contains one nuclear structure only.Therefore the two main features in spore formation of bacteria appear to be (1) a fusion of the dumbbell bodies into an axial chromatin rod (‘autogamy’?), (2) a reduction partition which is reminiscent of, though not corresponding to, the more complicated phenomenon of meiosis in the higher organisms. The sporulation, as outlined in this paper, gives new proof of the important part played by the chromatinic dumbbell bodies (‘chromosomes’) in the developmental cycle of spore-bearing organisms. The fusion cell with its axial chromatin cylinder has for the first time been proved to have a progressive functional significance as a stage in a nuclear cycle. The particular mode of fusion followed by reduction partition suggests that the chromatinic dumbbell bodies may be concerned with the transmission of the hereditary characters in bacteria.