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SUMMARY:Single-nuclei transcriptomics reveals a novel frond nutrient-uptak
 e cell type in duckweeds
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T080000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T081500Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260916T130421Z
UID:indico-contribution-2895@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Alexander Ware* (University of Nottingham)\nDuckweed
 s are unusual among angiosperms in being able to acquire nutrients through
  the shoot rather than the root. We previously showed that their roots are
  dispensable for this ancestral function\, and that they have lost root-bi
 ased nutrient transporter expression (Ware et al.\, 2023). The cellular bi
 ology underpinning shoot nutrient uptake\, and its evolution\, remain unkn
 own.\n\nTo address this\, we generated single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas
 es of shoots and roots from *Spirodela polyrhiza*\, *Lemna minor* and *Wol
 ffia australiana*\, alongside the aroid *Pistia stratiotes*\, which indepe
 ndently colonised the free-floating aquatic niche. Integration of these da
 tasets across species revealed a previously undescribed cell population\, 
 conserved across all duckweed shoots\, whose identity does not readily cor
 respond to known cell types in terrestrial monocots. This novel cell type 
 expresses a broad suite of nutrient-uptake genes canonically restricted to
  the root in terrestrial species. In *Lemna minor*\, optimisation of whole
 -mount hybridisation chain reaction FISH has spatially localised this cell
  type to the underside of the frond\, extending one to two cell layers dee
 p into the abaxial frond body. The abundance of this cell type increases a
 cross the duckweed genera as the root is reduced\, and it is scarce in roo
 t-reliant *Pistia*.\n\nWe propose that this cell population constitutes a 
 dedicated nutrient-uptake tissue in the duckweed frond. Functional charact
 erisation of the cell type\, the transporters it expresses\, and the evolu
 tion of the regulatory network governing its identity is now ongoing.\n\nh
 ttps://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2895/
LOCATION:Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Napoli F
 ederico II\, Portici\, Italy Sala Cinese
URL:https://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2895/
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