Overview of Green Plants

Chapter 30

Defining Plants
The kingdom Viridiplantae includes land plants and green algae -Red and brown algae are excluded All green plants arose from a single species of freshwater algae The green algae split into two major clades -Chlorophytes Never made it to land -Charophytes Did!
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Defining Plants

Defining Plants
Land plants have two major features 1. Protected embryos 2. Multicellular haploid and diploid phases

Defining Plants
Adaptations to terrestrial life 1. Protection from desiccation by a waxy cuticle and stomata 2. Evolution of leaves which increase photosynthetic surface area 3. Shift to a dominant vertical diploid generation
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Plant Life Cycles

Humans have a diplontic life cycle -Only the diploid stage is multicellular

Plants have a haplodiplontic life cycle -Multicellular diploid stage = Sporophyte -Multicellular haploid stage = Gametophyte

Plant Life Cycles

Sporophyte produces haploid spores by meiosis Spores divide mitotically, producing the gametophyte Gametophyte produces gametes by mitosis Gametes fuse to form the diploid sporophyte
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Plant Life Cycles

As more complex plants evolved: 1. Diploid stage became the dominant portion of the life cycle 2. Gametophyte became more limited in size 3. Sporophyte became nutritionally independent
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Chlorophytes
Green algae have two distinct lineages -Chlorophytes Gave rise to aquatic algae -Streptophytes Gave rise to land plants Chlamydomonas -Unicellular chlorophyte with two flagella -Have eyespots to direct swimming -Reproduces asexually as well as sexually
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Chlorophytes
Volvox -Colonial chlorophyte -Hollow sphere of a single layer of 500-60,000 cells -A few cells are specialized for reproduction
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Chlorophytes
Ulva -Multicellular chlorophyte

-Haplodiplontic life cycle -Gametophyte and sporophyte have identical appearance

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Charophytes
Charophytes are green algae related to land plants

There are two candidate clades

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Charophytes
Charales (300 species) -Macroscopic -Plant-like plasmodesmata -Sister clade to land plants Choleocaetales (30 species) -Microscopic -Plant-like mitosis -Next closest plant relatives
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Charophytes (Cont.)

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Bryophytes
Bryophytes are the closest living descendants of the first land plants -Called nontracheophytes because they lack tracheids (specialized transport cells) Simple, but highly adapted to diverse terrestrial environments Non-photosynthetic sporophyte is nutritionally dependent on the gametophyte
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Bryophytes
Liverworts (phylum Hepaticophyta) -Have flattened gametophytes with liver-like lobes -Form gametangia in umbrellashaped structures -Also undergo asexual reproduction
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Bryophytes
Hornworts (phylum Anthocerotophyta) -Sporophyte has stomata -Sporophyte is photosynthetic -Cells have a single large chloroplast
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Bryophytes
Mosses (phylum Bryophyta) -Gametophytes consist of small, leaflike structures around a stemlike axis -Anchored to substrate by rhizoids -Multicellular gametangia form at the tips of gametophytes -Archegonia Female gametangia -Antheridia Male gametangia Mosses withstand drought, but not air pollution
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Features of Tracheophyte Plants

Cooksonia, the first vascular land plant, appeared about 420 MYA -Only a few centimeters tall -No roots or leaves -Homosporous
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Features of Tracheophyte Plants

Vascular tissues are of two types -Xylem Conducts water and dissolved minerals upward from the roots -Phloem Conducts sucrose and hormones throughout the plant -These enable enhanced height and size in the tracheophytes Tracheophytes are also characterized by the presence of a cuticle and stomata
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Features of Tracheophyte Plants

Vascular plants have gametophytes reduced in size and complexity relative to sporophytes Seeds -Highly-resistant structures that protect the plant embryo -Occur only in heterosporous plants Fruits in flowering plants add a layer of protection to seeds -Also attract animals that disperse seeds 25

Features of Tracheophyte Plants

Vascular plants include seven extant phyla grouped in three clades 1. Lycophytes (club mosses) 2. Pterophytes (ferns and their relatives) 3. Seed plants

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Lycophytes
Club mosses are the earliest vascular plants -They lack seeds -Superficially resemble true mosses but they are not related -Homosporous or heterosporous

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Pterophytes
The phylogenetic relationships among ferns and their relatives is still being sorted out

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Pterophytes
Whisk ferns -Saprophyte consists of evenly forking green stems without leaves or roots

-Some gametophytes develop elements of vascular tissue -Only one known to do so

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Pterophytes
Horsetails -All 15 living species are homosporous -Constitute a single species, Equisetum

-Consist of ribbed, jointed photosynthetic stems that arise from branching rhizomes

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Pterophytes
Ferns -The most abundant group of seedless vascular plants with about 11,000 species -The conspicuous sporophyte and much smaller gametophyte are both photosynthetic
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Pterophytes
The fern life cycle differs from that of a moss -Much greater development, independence and dominance of the ferns sporophyte Fern morphology -Sporophytes have rhizomes -Fronds (leaves) develop at the tip of the rhizome as tightly rolled-up coils -They unroll and expand
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Pterophytes
Fern reproduction -Most fern are homosporous -Produce distinctive sporangia in clusters called sori on the back of the fronds -Diploid spore mother cells in sporangia produce haploid spores by meiosis -At maturity, the spores are catapulted by snapping action
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The Evolution of Seed Plants

Seed plants first appeared 305-465 MYA -Evolved from spore-bearing plants known as progymnosperms The seed represents an important advance 1. Protects the embryo 2. Easily dispersed 3. Introduces a dormant phase in the life cycle
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The Evolution of Seed Plants

Seed plants produce 2 kinds of gametophytes -Male gametophytes -Pollen grains -Dispersed by wind or a pollinator -Female gametophytes -Develop within an ovule -Enclosed within diploid sporophyte tissue
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Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms are plants with naked seeds -Ovule is exposed on a scale at pollination There are four living groups -Coniferophytes -Cycadophytes -Gnetophytes -Ginkgophytes All lack flowers and fruits of angiosperms
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Gymnosperms
Conifers (phylum Coniferophyta) are the largest gymnosperm phylum -Include: -Pines, spruces, firs, cedars and others -Coastal redwood Tallest tree -Bristlecone pine Oldest living tree Conifers are sources of important products -Timber, paper, resin and taxol (anti-cancer)
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Gymnosperms
Pines

-More than 100 species, all in the Northern hemisphere -Produce tough needlelike leaves in clusters -Leaves have: 1. Thick cuticle and recessed stomata 2. Canals into which cells secrete resin
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Gymnosperms
Pine reproduction -Male gametophytes (pollen grains) develop from microspores in male cones by meiosis -Female pine cones form on the upper branches of the same tree -Female cones are larger, and have woody scales -Two ovules develop on each scale
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Gymnosperms
Pine reproduction -Each ovule contains a megasporangium called the nucellus -Surrounded by the integument -Opening Micropyle -One layer becomes the seed coat -While scales of female cone are open, pollen grains drift down between them -Are drawn to top of nucellus

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Gymnosperms
Pine reproduction -While female gametophyte is developing, a pollen tube emerges from the pollen grain -It digests its way to the archegonium -Fifteen months after pollination, pollen tube reaches archegonium and delivers its sperm

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Gymnosperms
Cycads (phylum Cycadophyta) -Slow-growing gymnosperms of tropical and subtropical regions

-Sporophytes resemble palm trees -Have largest sperm cells of all organisms!
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Gymnosperms
Gnetophytes (phylum Gnetophyta) -Only gymnosperms with vessels in their xylem -Contain three (unusual) genera -Welwitschia -Ephedra -Gnetum
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Gymnosperms
Ginkgophytes (phylum Ginkgophyta) -Only one living species remains -Ginkgo biloba

-Dioecious -Male and female reproductive structures form on different trees

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Angiosperms
Angiosperms are the flowering plants -Ovules are enclosed in diploid tissue at the time of pollination

-The carpel, a modified leaf that covers seeds, develops into fruit
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Angiosperms
Angiosperm origins are a mystery -The oldest known angiosperm in the fossil record is Archaefructus -The closest living relative to the original angiosperm is Amborella
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Angiosperms

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Angiosperms

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Angiosperms
Flower morphology -Primordium develops into a bud at the end of a stalk called the pedicel -Pedicel expands at the tip to form a receptacle, to which other parts attach

-Flower parts are organized in circles called whorls

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Angiosperms
Flower morphology -Outermost whorl = Sepals -Second whorl = Petals -Third whorl = Stamens (androecium) -Each stamen has a pollen-bearing anther and a filament (stalk) -Innermost whorl = Gynoecium -Consists of one or more carpels that house the female gametophyte

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Angiosperms

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Angiosperms
Carpel structure -Three major regions -Ovary = Swollen base containing ovules -Later develops into a fruit -Stigma = Tip -Style = Neck or stalk
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Angiosperm Life Cycle

The female gametophyte (embryo sac) has 8 haploid nuclei arranged in two groups of four A nucleus from each group migrate toward the ovules center and become polar nuclei Cell walls form round remaining three nuclei -At the micropyle end, one cell functions as the egg, and the other two are synergids -At the other end, three cells are antipodals -They eventually break down 56

Angiosperm Life Cycle

Pollen production occurs in the anthers -It is similar but less complex than female gametophyte formation -Diploid microspore mother cells undergo meiosis to produce four haploid microspores -Binucleate microspores become pollen grains
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Angiosperm Life Cycle

Pollination is the mechanical transfer of pollen from anther to stigma -Pollen grains develop a pollen tube that is guided to the embryo sac -One of the two pollen grain cells lags behind -This generative cell divides to produce two sperm cells
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Angiosperm Life Cycle

As the pollen tube enters the embryo sac, a double fertilization occurs -One sperm unites with egg to form the diploid zygote -Other sperm unites with the two polar nuclei to form the triploid endosperm -Provides nutrients to embryo When the seed germinates, a young sporophyte plant emerges
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Angiosperm Life Cycle

Angiosperms include: -Eudicots (about 175,000 species) -Trees, shrubs, snapdragons, peas, other -Use flowers to attract insect pollinators -Monocots (about 65,000 species) -Grasses, lilies, palms, irises, others -Some rely on wind for pollination Note: Self-pollination may also occur
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