Programmed cell death in the moss Physcomitrella patens : studying the role of metacaspases in archegonia development through gene knockout by homologous recombination

Abstract: The knowledge of programmed cell death (PCD) in plants is limited. The gene family of caspases in animals is known to be important for the execution of PCD. Putative homologues to caspases have been found in plants and are referred to as metacaspases. The model moss Physcomitrella patens is known to possess a high frequency of homologous recombination, which can be exploited for the generation of targeted gene knockout mutants. The female reproductive organ in P. patens shows rapid cell degradation during its maturation. This cell degradation is believed to be caused by PCD, and is therefore used as a model to study the process. A new metacaspase 5 knockout construct was successfully produced during this project, which, together with a metacaspase 3 construct received from a collaborator, was transformed into moss to generate two metacaspase single knockout lines and four double knockout lines.