The morphologically diverse bodies of seed plants comprising gymnosperms and angiosperms, which separated some 350 Ma, grow by the activity of meristems containing stem cell niches. In the dicot model Arabidopsis thaliana, these are maintained by the stem cell-promoting functions of WUS and WUSCHEL-related homeobox 5 (WOX5) in the shoot and the root, respectively. Both genes are members of the WOX gene family, which has a monophyletic origin in green algae. The establishment of the WOX gene phylogeny from basal land plants through gymnosperms to basal and higher angiosperms reveals three major branches: a basal clade consisting of WOX13-related genes present in some green algae and throughout all land plant genomes, a second clade containing WOX8/9/11/12 homologues, and a modern clade restricted to seed plants. The analysis of the origin of the modern branch in two basal angiosperms (Amborella trichopoda and Nymphaea jamesoniana) and three gymnosperms (Pinus sylvestris, Ginkgo biloba, and Gnetum gnemon) shows that all members of the modern clade consistently found in monocots and dicots exist at the base of the angiosperm lineage, including WUS and WOX5 orthologues. In contrast, our analyses identify a single WUS/WOX5 homologue in all three gymnosperm genomes, consistent with a monophyletic origin in the last common ancestor of gymnosperms and angiosperms. Phylogenetic data, WUS- and WOX5-specific evolutionary signatures, as well as the expression pattern and stem cell-promoting function of the single gymnosperm WUS/WOX5 pro-orthologue in Arabidopsis indicate a gene duplication event followed by subfunctionalization at the base of angiosperms.

Many differentiated plant cells can dedifferentiate into stem cells, reflecting the remarkable developmental plasticity of plants. In the moss Physcomitrella patens, cells at the wound margin of detached leaves become reprogrammed into stem cells. Here, we report that two paralogous P. patens WUSCHEL-related homeobox 13-like (PpWOX13L) genes, homologs of stem cell regulators in flowering plants, are transiently upregulated and required for the initiation of cell growth during stem cell formation. Concordantly, Δppwox13l deletion mutants fail to upregulate genes encoding homologs of cell wall loosening factors during this process. During the moss life cycle, most of the Δppwox13l mutant zygotes fail to expand and initiate an apical stem cell to form the embryo. Our data show that PpWOX13L genes are required for the initiation of cell growth specifically during stem cell formation, in analogy to WOX stem cell functions in seed plants, but using a different cellular mechanism.

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