First published online March 21, 2008
Development 135, 804e (2008)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Insights into algae's alternative life style
Brown algae evolved multicellularity independently of animals and higher
plants, and so are of considerable interest to evolutionary and developmental
biologists. The life cycle of the model brown alga Ectocarpus
siliculosus consists of two independent, alternating multicellular forms
(generations): sporophytes and gametophytes. This alternation of generations
involves an alternating pattern of cell division in the `initial' cell:
asymmetric initial-cell division occurs in gametophyte development and
symmetric division in sporophyte development. Now Peters et al. (see
p. 1503) provide a
detailed account of the markedly different patterns of early development of
these two generations, and correlate these differences with the mode of
initial-cell division. Importantly, they also report a rare life cycle mutant,
called imm, in which gametophyte characteristics develop in the
sporophyte generation and in which genes normally expressed during the
gametophyte stage are upregulated, while sporophyte-generation genes are
downregulated. These insights into the development and genetic control of the
E. siliculosus life cycle will enlighten future studies of this
organism, the genome of which is currently being sequenced.
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Related articles in Development:
- Life-cycle-generation-specific developmental processes are modified in the immediate upright mutant of the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus
- Akira F. Peters, Delphine Scornet, Morgane Ratin, Bénédicte Charrier, Annabelle Monnier, Yves Merrien, Erwan Corre, Susana M. Coelho, and J. Mark Cock
Development 2008 135: 1503-1512.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
