Ceratopteris richardii: A Productive Model for Revealing Secrets of Signaling and Development

Abstract

Ceratopteris richardii is an aquatic fern grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is proven to be a productive model system for studies in the genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology of basic biologic processes that occur in early gametophytic development. It provides several advantages to biologists, especially those interested in gravitational biology, polarity development, and in the genetics of sexual development. It is easy to culture, has a relatively short life cycle, and offers an array of attractive features that facilitate genetic studies. The germination and early development of large populations of genetically identical spores are easy to synchronize, and both the direction of polarity development and cell-level gravity responses can be measured and readily manipulated within the first 24 h of spore development. Although there is no reliable transformation system available yet in Ceratopteris, recent studies suggest that the technique of RNA interference can be used to block translation of specific genes in a related fern, Marsilea, and current studies will soon reveal the applicability of this approach, as well as of other transformation approaches, in Ceratopteris. A recently completed expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing project makes available the partial sequence of more than 2000 cDNAs, representing a significant percentage of the genes being expressed during the first 24 h of spore germination, when many developmentally interesting processes are occurring. A microarray of these ESTs is being constructed, so especially for those scientists interested in basic cellular phenomena that occur early in spore germination, the availability of the ESTs and of the microarray will make Ceratopteris an even more attractive model system.

Sperm cell architecture, insemination, and fertilization in the model fern, Ceratopteris richardii

“…Recent developments in RNAi gene silencing techniques (Rutherford et al 2004) will further enable the reverse genetic approach to understanding the biology of this model fern. The growth of EST databases developed for C. richardii (Chatterjee and Roux 2000;Salmi et al 2005) will allow specific genes involved in fertilization to be analyzed for expression patterns and new bioinformation to be compared across land plants and all eukaryotes.…”

Developmental anatomy of the fifth shoot-borne root in young sporophytes of Ceratopteris richardii

“…Among the homosporous ferns,Ceratopteris richardii has emerged as a useful model to investigate a range of developmental and genetic problems in a non-seed plant system (Banks et al 1993;Hickok et al 1995;Chatterjee and Roux 2000;Hill 2001). Genetic resources to support research with this species continue to improve, including the availability of bacterial artificial chromosome and expressed sequence tag libraries, and the successful application of the RNA interference technique for targeted suppression of gene expression (Stout et al 2003;http://www.genome.clemson.edu/).…”

High-Efficiency Stable Transformation of the Model Fern Species Ceratopteris richardii via Microparticle Bombardment

“…The most extensively studied fern species is Ceratopteris richardii, a homosporous fern increasingly viewed as a viable experimental model (Hickok et al, 1995;Chatterjee and Roux, 2000;Leroux et al, 2013). The C. richardii lifecycle comprises gametophyte and sporophyte stages that are capable of growing independently of one another.…”