Current Advances in Fern Research

Description

Ferns, collectively, represent an ancient species of vascular plant which has a direct connection to the beginning of life on Earth. Today they are valued for their ornamental appeal, environmental benefit or as sources of health benefiting metabolites. Current pteridology, the study of fern, encompasses a wide range of research activities including, but not limited to, plant physiology, stress tolerance, genetics and genomics. The goal of this book is to compile the most relevant research done with ferns during the last decade. It is organized into four parts: I, Biology and Biotechnology; II, Evolution and Conservation; III, Metabolism and Genetic Resources, and IV, Environment. Each section reveals the utilization of ferns as a tool to explore challenges unique to plant development and adaptation. This project represents our collective effort to raise the awareness of ferns as a model system to study higher plant functions. Among the distinctive features of our proposed book are: (i) a wide range of topics with contributing researchers from all around the world, and (ii) recent advances of theoretic and applied knowledge with implications to crop species of economic value. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 The Gametophyte of Fern: Born to Reproduce (Alejandro Rivera, María Jesús Cañal, Ueli Grossniklaus, Helena Fernández)....Pages 3-19 Azolla: A Model System for Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation and Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Sophie de Vries, Jan de Vries)....Pages 21-46 Meristems of Seedless Vascular Plants: The State of the Art (Alicja Dolzblasz, Elżbieta Myśkow, Edyta M. Gola)....Pages 47-73 Biotechnology in Clone Gametophytes: Future Perspectives in Homosporous Ferns (Deepali Johari, Ajit Pratap Singh)....Pages 75-97 Morphogenic Events in Ferns: Single and Multicellular Explants In Vitro (Jan Jarosław Rybczyński, Karolina Tomiczak, Małgorzata Grzyb, Anna Mikuła)....Pages 99-120 Experimental and Practical Application of Fern Somatic Embryogenesis (Anna Mikuła, Małgorzata Grzyb, Karolina Tomiczak, Jan Jarosław Rybczyński)....Pages 121-137 Biotechnology and Apogamy in Dryopteris affinis spp. affinis: The Influence of Tissue Homogenization, Auxins, Cytokinins, Gibberellic Acid, and Polyamines (Alejandro Rivera, Paula Conde, Ma Jesús Cañal, Helena Fernández)....Pages 139-152 Scope of Ferns in Horticulture and Economic Development (Ajit Pratap Singh, Deepali Johari)....Pages 153-175 Front Matter ....Pages 177-177 Evolution and Classification of Ferns and Lycophytes (Emily B. Sessa)....Pages 179-200 Reciprocal Illumination and Fossils Provide Important Perspectives in Plant Evo-devo: Examples from Auxin in Seed-Free Plants (Kelly K. S. Matsunaga, Alexandru M. F. Tomescu)....Pages 201-225 Fern Conservation: Spore, Gametophyte, and Sporophyte Ex Situ Storage, In Vitro Culture, and Cryopreservation (Daniel Ballesteros, Valerie C. Pence)....Pages 227-249 Azolla and Bougainville’s Voyage Around the World (Francisco Carrapiço)....Pages 251-267 Front Matter ....Pages 269-269 The Power of Gametophyte Transformation (Linh Thuy Bui, Holly Long, Erin E. Irish, Angela R. Cordle, Chi-Lien Cheng)....Pages 271-284 Generation of Transgenic Spores of the Fern Ceratopteris richardii to Analyze Ca2+ Transport Dynamics During Gravity-Directed Polarization (Ashley E. Cannon, Mari L. Salmi, Araceli Cantero, Stanley J. Roux)....Pages 285-303 Secondary Metabolites of Ferns (Janos Vetter)....Pages 305-327 Current Trends in Pteridophyte Extracts: From Plant to Nanoparticles (Liliana Cristina Soare, Nicoleta Anca Şuţan)....Pages 329-357 Front Matter ....Pages 359-359 Novel Genes of Hyperaccumulator Ferns in Arsenic Tolerance, Uptake, and Metabolism: Implications for Crop Improvement (Yanshan Chen, Yue Cao, Bala Rathinasabapathi, Lena Ma)....Pages 361-379 Fern Phenology (Pei-Hsuan Lee, Yao-Moan Huang, Wen-Liang Chiou)....Pages 381-399 Desiccation Tolerance in Ferns: From the Unicellular Spore to the Multi-tissular Sporophyte (Marina López-Pozo, Beatriz Fernández-Marín, Jose Ignacio García-Plazaola, Daniel Ballesteros)....Pages 401-426 New Insights on Atmospheric Fern Spore Dynamics (David Rodríguez de la Cruz, Estefanía Sánchez-Reyes, José Sánchez-Sánchez, José Ángel Sánchez-Agudo)....Pages 427-452 Ecological Significance of Brassinosteroids in Three Temperate Ferns (Aránzazu Gómez-Garay, Jose Maria Gabriel y Galán, Alberto Cabezuelo, Beatriz Pintos, Carmen Prada, Luisa Martín)....Pages 453-466 Ecomorphology of Stomata in Temperate Ferns Under Contrasting Environments (Jose Maria Gabriel y Galán, Andrea Seral, Antonio Murciano, María do Rosario Anjos, Francisco B. Cuevas-Fernández, Pablo Fernández et al.)....Pages 467-480 Recent Advances in the Use of Mitochondrial Activity of Fern Spores for the Evaluation of Acute Toxicity (Alexis Joseph Rodríguez-Romero, Jacinto Elías Sedeño-Díaz, Eugenia López-López, Marta Esteban, Luis G. Quintanilla, Myriam Catalá)....Pages 481-498 Update on the Assessment of Chronic Phytotoxicity Using Fern Spore Biomarkers (Helena García-Cortés, Myriam Catalá, José Luis Rodríguez-Gil)....Pages 499-515 Role of Ferns in Environmental Cleanup (Bhupinder Dhir)....Pages 517-531 Back Matter ....Pages 533-544