The invasion of the land by plants: when and where?

Charles H. Wellman
New Phytologist (2010) 188: 306–309

The land plants (Embryophytes) are a monophyletic group that evolved as an adaptive response to the migration from a freshwater aquatic to terrestrial subaerial habitat. Phylogenetic analysis of extant plants suggests that charo-phycean green algae share a sister group relationship with the Embryophytes, that is, the land plants probably evolved from a freshwater aquatic multicellular green alga similar to extant Chara and Coleochaete (Graham, 1993). Within the Embryophytes liverworts are the most basal group, followed by mosses, and then hornworts and vascular plants sharing a sister group relationship (Qiu et al., 2006). However, it is to the fossil record we must turn if we are to understand what the first land plants were like and when and where they evolved.

4 th International Bryological Meeting in Belgium - 7 to 11 june 2011

Nowellia Bryologica

M. Philippe De Zuttere

Fontaine Saint-Joseph, 26 - BE. 5670 Vierves-sur-Viroin BELGIQUE

Tél./Fax.: 0032 60 391970 nowellia@skynet.be

http://users.skynet.be/fb062663/nowellia.htm

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Dear Colleagues,

I am pleasure to annonce the 4th international bryological meeting in Belgium (city of Vierves-sur-Viroin) who take place from 7 to 11 june 2011.

In attach you find the 3 papers with informations about our meeting.

If you want more information, ask me at nowellia@skynet.be

With our best regards.

Philippe De Zuttere

A modest moss gives insight into global carbon cycling

from: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/ajob-ltl091410.php

Learning to live on land: How some early plants overcame an evolutionary hurdle

A modest moss gives insight into global carbon cycling

		IMAGE: This is reproductive Sphagnum peat moss, showing dark brown sporophytes that explosively discharge spores, perched on green gametophytes. Diverse species of this moss genus occur worldwide and dominate large areas... Click here for more information.

The diversity of life that can be seen in environments ranging from the rainforests of the Amazon to the spring blooms of the Mohave Desert is awe-inspiring. But this diversity would not be possible if the ancestors of modern plants had just stayed in the water with their green algal cousins. Moving onto dry land required major lifestyle changes to adapt to this new "hostile" environment, and in turn helped change global climate and atmospheric conditions to conditions we recognize today. By absorbing carbon while making food, and releasing oxygen, early plants shaped ecosystems into a more hospitable environment, paving the way for animals to make a parallel journey onto land.

New research by Dr. Linda Graham and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison focuses on this transition and adaptive changes in the uptake of carbon-based compounds, such as sugars. This work, which is published in the September issue of the American Journal of Botany, suggests a basis for incorporating evolutionary/paleontological information into global carbon cycling models.

All plants descended from a group of ancestral green algae, whose modern representatives thrive in aqueous environments. The simplest of modern land plants—several groups of bryophytes—are the closest living relatives to the first plants to colonize land. By comparing green algae and bryophytes, Graham and her co-researchers obtained insight into the evolutionary hurdles that plants needed to overcome to transition successfully to life on land, and how early plants' success influenced carbon cycling.

The researchers quantified and compared growth responses to exogenously (externally) supplied sugars in two green algae, Cylindrocystis brebissoni and Mougeotia sp., and one peat moss species, Sphagnum compactum. They found that sugar/carbon uptake in peat moss was not restricted to the products of photosynthesis. Rather, addition of sugars to the growth media increased biomass by almost 40-fold. This ability to utilize sugars not only from photosynthesis but also from the environment is called mixotrophy, not previously thought to play a significant role in the growth of mosses. The two green algae also responded to external sugar, though less so than the peat moss.

Peat mosses "store a large percentage of global soil carbon, thereby helping to stabilize Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate," stated Graham.

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Third Physcomitrella Genome Workshop, Freiburg, Germany

Third Physcomitrella Genome Workshop, Freiburg, Germany

The Third Physcomitrella Genome Workshop will take place on 13 to 15 September at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

The Physcomitrella genome was first sequenced at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) of the US Department of Energy and published in 2008 by a consortium of 70 researchers from 45 different laboratories. The event will focus in particular on the annotation of this genome, which has become a model organism in applied and in basic biology.

The workshop will aim to create a lively working atmosphere and by providing ample space for hands-on mining and annotating of the moss genome. Insights into genomic resources for other bryophytes will also be provided.

The organisers of the conference have constructed a website containing information about the moss genome. The event will talk about this new resource, which aims to attract additional researchers to help in further annotation of moss genes.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.cosmoss.org/

Remarks: To ensure a productive workshop, the number of participants is limited to 50. Online registration is requested.

2010 Crum Workshop September 23-28, 2010, Canada

2010 Crum Workshop
September 23-28, 2010
Tobermory, Ontario, Canada
The 2010 Crum Workshop will be held at the tip of the beautiful Bruce Peninsula, in the village of Tobermory, Ontario (http://www.tobermory.org/public/jpage/1/p/Home/content.do). Nearby Bruce Peninsula National Park (http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/on/bruce/index.aspx) provides access to a wide variety of unique and stunningly beautiful habitats. Relatively little collecting has been done on the Bruce – but enough to suggest that there is a lot of potential for interesting finds. Please contact bbuck[at]nybg.org for more information.

LC-MS-MS reveals plant response to ABA

LC-MS-MS reveals plant response to ABA
Originally published in: http://www.chromatographytoday.com/news/hplc-uhplc-lc-ms/31/breaking_news/lc-ms-ms_reveals_plant_response_to_aba/11584/
Thursday 2 September 2010

The plant hormone ABA has been studied using LC-MS-MS

The impact of the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) has been studied by Chinese scientists using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gel electrophoresis.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany and the Capital Normal University collaborated on the study, which is published in BMC Plant Biology this week.

They used LC-MS-MS to determine how ABA affects Physcomitrella patens, a species of moss.

Among their findings, they discovered that the hormone is capable of defending plants against oxidative damage by triggering defence and stress responses.

"Physiological and molecular responses to the plant hormone ABA appear to be conserved among higher plant species and bryophytes," they conclude.

This is in addition to the other effects that the hormone is known to have on plantlife at different stages in its development.

For instance, ABA is linked with dormancy and germination of seeds, as well as driving maturation and inducing embryogenesis.ADNFCR-3194-ID-800048856-ADNFCR