My lab has a new paper out showing that the moss KNOX protein MKN2 promotes sporophyte axis extension by inducing the expression of a cytokinin biosynthesis gene, PpIPT3. IPTs are targets of Class I KNOX proteins in Arabidopsis, but the KNOX/IPT module promotes proliferation in the middle of moss stems rather than in the shoot tips, and the work suggests a change in the timing and location of KNOX activity during shoot evolution. Very proud of Yoan Coudert for sticking with the project he started when he first joined my lab as a post-doc, and our paper is online in Current Biology here.
Mosses growing on a wall. Photo: Jeff Duckett and Silvia Pressel.
