Ferns are one of the most speciose lineages of land plants, and occupy an important phylogenetic position sister to seed plants. Despite this, ferns remain one of the last groups of land plants that do not have a fully developed model system. Here we review the biology and status of each emerging fern model. While reference genomes have been completed for Azolla filiculoides and Salvinia cucullata, they lack transformation capability. Meanwhile, other ferns including Marsilea vestita, Adiantum capillus-veneris, Pteris vittata, and Ceratopteris richardii have transformation methods, but lack genomic resources. Nevertheless, as genome sequencing becomes increasingly more affordable, we believe that M. vestita and C. richardii can become powerful fern models, which represent heterosporous and homosporous ferns, respectively.
How to translate text using browser tools
17 September 2019
Ferns: The Final Frond-tier in Plant Model Systems
Alaina R. Petlewski,
Fay-Wei Li
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
American Fern Journal
Vol. 109 • No. 3
September 2019
Vol. 109 • No. 3
September 2019
Ceratopteris
genomes
Marsilea
model systems
transformation