The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development

Alexander J. Hetherington

doi:10.1242/dev.204322

The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development

Alexander J. Hetherington

School of Biological Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Many of the developmental innovations that underpin the diversity of plant form alive today, such as those facilitating apical growth, branching, leaves, roots, wood and seeds, all evolved over 360 million years ago. Fossils, as our only direct record of plant form in the past, are thus essential for interpreting the origin and evolution of these innovations. The focus of this Spotlight is to showcase the rich plant fossil record open for developmental interpretation and to cement the role that fossils play at a time when increases in genome sequencing and new model species make tackling major questions in the area of plant evolution and development tractable for the first time.

Original language	English
Article number	dev204322
Number of pages	9
Journal	Development
Volume	151
Issue number	20
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.204322
Publication status	Published - 17 Oct 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Plant evolution
Fossil plants
Root evolution
Shoot evolution
Meristem evolution

Access to Document

10.1242/dev.204322

dev204322Final published version, 2.64 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

1 Finished
3 Active

Uncovering the evolutionary history and significance of Fibonacci spirals in vascular plants
Hetherington, S.
UKRI (formerly RCUK)
3/06/24 → 2/06/29
Project: Research
Evolution at the plant apex: identifying steps enabling a major organismal radiation
Hetherington, S.
University of Bristol
1/12/23 → 30/11/27
Project: Research
Establishing Selaginella apoda as a new lycophyte genetic model system
Hetherington, S.
Leverhulme Trust
1/12/23 → 30/11/26
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{d855e0ae9c0f405fb846e65534010c04,

title = "The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development",

abstract = "Many of the developmental innovations that underpin the diversity of plant form alive today, such as those facilitating apical growth, branching, leaves, roots, wood and seeds, all evolved over 360 million years ago. Fossils, as our only direct record of plant form in the past, are thus essential for interpreting the origin and evolution of these innovations. The focus of this Spotlight is to showcase the rich plant fossil record open for developmental interpretation and to cement the role that fossils play at a time when increases in genome sequencing and new model species make tackling major questions in the area of plant evolution and development tractable for the first time.",

keywords = "Plant evolution, Fossil plants, Root evolution, Shoot evolution, Meristem evolution",

author = "Hetherington, {Alexander J.}",

note = "I thank Julianne Kiely for the illustrations of both living and fossil plants (Figs 1 and 2); Neil Clark for access to the Kidston Collection, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, UK; Peta Hayes, London Natural History Museum, UK; Matthew Smith and Adam Marsh, Petrified Forest National Park, USA, and Bill DiMichele Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA, for helping locate the type material of Araucariorhiza joae; and Carol L. Hotton, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA, for rephotographing the specimen of A. joae. A special thanks to Brian Atkinson Curator of Paleobotany at the University of Kansas for re-photographing specimens in the collections of the Division of Paleobotany, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas (KUPB) under slide accession numbers #673 (636 D bot slide #2), #11,489 (2189 E3 Bot slide #90) and #26,513 (10160 D1 side #2 slide #10). I thank members of the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group and colleagues in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences and the University of Edinburgh for discussion of the evolution of plant development. A special thanks to Justin Goodrich, Kevin Boyce and Mihai Tomescu for helpful comments on the manuscript. Finally, thanks to Liam Dolan for helping develop this integrative approach to the study of fossil meristems and their role in developing and testing hypotheses about the evolution of plant development. ",

year = "2024",

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doi = "10.1242/dev.204322",

language = "English",

volume = "151",

journal = "Development",

issn = "0950-1991",

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T1 - The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development

AU - Hetherington, Alexander J.

N1 - I thank Julianne Kiely for the illustrations of both living and fossil plants (Figs 1 and 2); Neil Clark for access to the Kidston Collection, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, UK; Peta Hayes, London Natural History Museum, UK; Matthew Smith and Adam Marsh, Petrified Forest National Park, USA, and Bill DiMichele Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA, for helping locate the type material of Araucariorhiza joae; and Carol L. Hotton, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA, for rephotographing the specimen of A. joae. A special thanks to Brian Atkinson Curator of Paleobotany at the University of Kansas for re-photographing specimens in the collections of the Division of Paleobotany, Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas (KUPB) under slide accession numbers #673 (636 D bot slide #2), #11,489 (2189 E3 Bot slide #90) and #26,513 (10160 D1 side #2 slide #10). I thank members of the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group and colleagues in the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences and the University of Edinburgh for discussion of the evolution of plant development. A special thanks to Justin Goodrich, Kevin Boyce and Mihai Tomescu for helpful comments on the manuscript. Finally, thanks to Liam Dolan for helping develop this integrative approach to the study of fossil meristems and their role in developing and testing hypotheses about the evolution of plant development.

PY - 2024/10/17

Y1 - 2024/10/17

N2 - Many of the developmental innovations that underpin the diversity of plant form alive today, such as those facilitating apical growth, branching, leaves, roots, wood and seeds, all evolved over 360 million years ago. Fossils, as our only direct record of plant form in the past, are thus essential for interpreting the origin and evolution of these innovations. The focus of this Spotlight is to showcase the rich plant fossil record open for developmental interpretation and to cement the role that fossils play at a time when increases in genome sequencing and new model species make tackling major questions in the area of plant evolution and development tractable for the first time.

AB - Many of the developmental innovations that underpin the diversity of plant form alive today, such as those facilitating apical growth, branching, leaves, roots, wood and seeds, all evolved over 360 million years ago. Fossils, as our only direct record of plant form in the past, are thus essential for interpreting the origin and evolution of these innovations. The focus of this Spotlight is to showcase the rich plant fossil record open for developmental interpretation and to cement the role that fossils play at a time when increases in genome sequencing and new model species make tackling major questions in the area of plant evolution and development tractable for the first time.

KW - Plant evolution

KW - Fossil plants

KW - Root evolution

KW - Shoot evolution

KW - Meristem evolution

U2 - 10.1242/dev.204322

DO - 10.1242/dev.204322

M3 - Review article

SN - 0950-1991

VL - 151

JO - Development

JF - Development

IS - 20

M1 - dev204322

ER -

The role of fossils for reconstructing the evolution of plant development

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

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Projects

Uncovering the evolutionary history and significance of Fibonacci spirals in vascular plants

Evolution at the plant apex: identifying steps enabling a major organismal radiation

Establishing Selaginella apoda as a new lycophyte genetic model system

Cite this