Morphogenesis of moss leaf-like organs through variations in deeply shared developmental principles

. By tracking phyllid morphogenesis from a single initial cell to full maturity, we uncover the cellular growth dynamics underlying organ development. We demonstrate that auxin spatially inhibits cell divisions and promotes cellular elongation and differentiation. However, unlike in vascular plants, moss PIN transporters do not participate in polar auxin transport during phyllid development but mainly reduce intracellular auxin concentration. These findings indicate that while auxin's role in organogenesis is conserved, its transport mechanisms have diverged across land plants. Overall, our study reveals shared principles of planar organ morphogenesis, highlighting how the repeated deployment of similar developmental strategies, with lineage-specific variations, drove the convergent evolution of leaves and leaf-like organs.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2026-04-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee6959
Primary Topic
Plant Molecular Biology Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Morphogenesis of moss leaf-like organs through variations in deeply shared developmental principles

Daniel Kierzkowski, Loann Collet, Benjamin P Lapointe, Yoan Coudert et al.
Science Advances
Plant Molecular Biology Research
article

Morphogenesis of moss leaf-like organs through variations in deeply shared developmental principles

Daniel Kierzkowski, Loann Collet, Benjamin P Lapointe, Yoan Coudert, Agnieszka Bagniewska‐Zadworna, Mandar Deshpande, Anne‐Lise Routier‐Kierzkowska, Brendan Lane, Wenye Lin, Richard S. Smith
article en

Abstract

. By tracking phyllid morphogenesis from a single initial cell to full maturity, we uncover the cellular growth dynamics underlying organ development. We demonstrate that auxin spatially inhibits cell divisions and promotes cellular elongation and differentiation. However, unlike in vascular plants, moss PIN transporters do not participate in polar auxin transport during phyllid development but mainly reduce intracellular auxin concentration. These findings indicate that while auxin's role in organogenesis is conserved, its transport mechanisms have diverged across land plants. Overall, our study reveals shared principles of planar organ morphogenesis, highlighting how the repeated deployment of similar developmental strategies, with lineage-specific variations, drove the convergent evolution of leaves and leaf-like organs.

Science AdvancesVol. 12(16)
John Innes Centre (GB), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Norwich Research Park (GB), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Laboratoire Reproduction et Développement des Plantes (FR), Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL), Université de Montréal (CA)
Canada Foundation for Innovation, Human Frontier Science Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Plant Molecular Biology Research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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