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SUMMARY:Living on Less:  Miniaturization in Duckweed
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T063000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260929T070000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260915T151304Z
UID:indico-contribution-426-2970@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Anthony Bishopp (Plant and Crop Sciences\, School of
  Biosciences\, University of Nottingham)\nMiniaturisation\, or an extreme 
 reduction in body size\, is present in both the plant and animal\nkingdoms
 . This process has been associated with novel morphological innovations an
 d\nfunctional adaptations. Whilst miniaturisation has been studied in a wi
 de variety of animal\nlineages\, we lack an understanding of the morpholog
 ical changes associated with miniaturisation\nin plants. The Araceae exhib
 it a striking evolutionary breadth\, encompassing both the smallest\nflowe
 ring plants and some of the largest herbaceous species known\, making it a
 n ideal family with\nwhich to explore the concept of miniaturisation. We f
 ocused on duckweeds\, investigating the\nmorphogenesis and homology of the
 ir fronds with those of other Aroids. Duckweeds measure just\na few millim
 etres. Their aerial body plan consists of a single frond or thallus\, whic
 h divides\nasexually through clonal reproduction. We followed morphogenesi
 s in Lemna minor fronds and\nobserved that cell division was tightly const
 rained to a narrow time window during early\norganogenesis\, suggesting th
 at the early cessation of division constrains final frond size.\nTranscrip
 tional dissection of the duckweed frond revealed that it comprised distinc
 t zones with\nhomology to either leaves or petioles in Aroids\, suggesting
  that the duckweed frond is a hybrid\norgan consisting of a fused stem and
  leaf. Collectively\, our data support the hypothesis that while\,\nin ani
 mal lineages such as tardigrades\, miniaturisation has arisen through the 
 loss of body plan\ncomponents\, in duckweeds\, it has arisen through a res
 triction in cell division and fusion\, rather\nthan the loss of organs.\n\
 nhttps://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2970/
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/2970/
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