Abstract
An analysis reveals that both sexual reproduction and early-embryo development in the moss Physcomitrella patens are controlled by cellular calcium influxes through ion-channel proteins. See Letter p.91 Ionotropic glutamate receptors act as cationic channels to mediate neurotransmission in animals. Jose Feijo and co-workers now describe a role for GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE (GLR) channels in an organism lacking a nervous system—a moss. Like animals, this basal land plant has motile sperm that targets the female reproductive organs for fertilization through chemotaxis. The authors find that this process does not occur in the absence of the GLR channels, which seem to be required for the regulation of calcium-mediated signalling and for the expression of a transcription factor that is essential for zygote development. An intriguing question is whether glutamate receptors also function in animal fertilization.
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