TY  - JOUR
AB  - Due to its phenomenal growth requiring neither nitrogen fertilizer nor arable land and its biomass composition, the mosquito fern Azolla is a candidate crop to yield food, fuels and chemicals sustainably. To advance Azolla domestication, we research its dissemination, storage and transcriptome. Methods for dissemination, cross-fertilization and cryopreservation of the symbiosis Azolla filiculoides-Nostoc azollae are tested based on the fern spores. To study molecular processes in Azolla including spore induction, a database of 37649 unigenes from RNAseq of microsporocarps, megasporocarps and sporophytes was assembled, then validated. Spores obtained year-round germinated in vitro within 26d. In vitro fertilization rates reached 25%. Cryopreservation permitted storage for at least 7months. The unigene database entirely covered central metabolism and to a large degree covered cellular processes and regulatory networks. Analysis of genes engaged in transition to sexual reproduction revealed a FLOWERING LOCUS T-like protein in ferns with special features induced in sporulating Azolla fronds. Although domestication of a fern-cyanobacteria symbiosis may seem a daunting task, we conclude that the time is ripe and that results generated will serve to more widely access biochemicals in fern biomass for a biobased economy.
DA  - 2014
DO  - 10.1111/nph.12708
KW  - Azolla filiculoides
KW  - biobased economy
KW  - cryopreservation
KW  - domestication
KW  - fern
KW  - RNAseq
KW  - sexual reproduction
LA  - eng
IS  - 3
M2  - 1069
PY  - 2014
SN  - 0028-646X
SP  - 1069-1082
T2  - New Phytologist
TI  - Azolla domestication towards a biobased economy?
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29151391
Y2  - 2024-11-21T17:25:24
ER  -