Azolla domestication towards a biobased economy?

作者：Brouwer Paul; Braeutigam Andrea; Kuelahoglu Canan; Tazelaar Anne O E; Kurz Samantha; Nierop Klaas G J; van der Werf Adrie; Weber Andreas P M; Schluepmann Henriette^*

来源：NEW PHYTOLOGIST, 2014, 202(3): 1069-1082.

DOI：10.1111/nph.12708

• Azolla filiculoides
• biobased economy
• cryopreservation
• domestication
• fern
• RNAseq
• sexual reproduction

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.

• 出版日期2014-5