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The Evolution of Branching in Land Plants: Between Conservation and Diversity

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Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Abstract

The evolution of branching was pivotal to the diversification of plant architecture, providing ways to colonize the environment and optimize resource acquisition both above and below ground. Fossil and phylogenetic evidence indicates that branching evolved independently in the two generations of the land plant life cycle. In this chapter, I focus on shoot systems and discuss two contrasting patterns, occurring at different levels: conservation and diversity. I show that two similar branching modes, terminal and lateral, are found across extant and extinct land plant lineages. Despite conservation of gross morphology, branching morphogenesis is highly disparate at the cellular level and is orchestrated in various manners between and within lineages. In contrast, the molecular mechanisms underpinning branch development could be largely shared among land plants.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Jill Harrison, Florian Jabbour and Jeremy Solly for helpful suggestions and proofreading the manuscript. I thank the CNRS (ATIP-Avenir programme) and the Natural History Museum Paris (ATM programme) for funding research in my laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d’Italie, 69364 CEDEX 07, Lyon, France

    Yoan Coudert

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  1. Yoan Coudert
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Correspondence to Yoan Coudert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The KLI Institute, Klosterneuburg, Austria

    Laura Nuno de la Rosa

  2. The KLI Institute, Klosterneuburg, Austria

    Gerd Müller

Section Editor information

  1. Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Charles P. Scutt

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Coudert, Y. (2017). The Evolution of Branching in Land Plants: Between Conservation and Diversity. In: Nuno de la Rosa, L., Müller, G. (eds) Evolutionary Developmental Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33038-9_63-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33038-9_63-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33038-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33038-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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