Involvement of the CYP78A subfamily of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in protonema growth and gametophore formation in the moss Physcomitrella patens.

CYP78 is a plant-specific family of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, some members of which regulate the plastochron length and organ size in angiosperms. The CYP78 family appears to be highly conserved in land plants, but there have been no reports on the role of CYP78s in bryophytes. The moss, Physcomitrella patens, possesses two CYP78As, CYP78A27 and CYP78A28. We produced single and double mutants and overexpression lines for CYP78A27 and CYP78A28 by gene targeting to investigate the function of CYP78As in P. patens. Neither the cyp78a27 nor cyp78a28 single mutant showed any obvious phenotype, while the double mutant exhibited severely retarded protonemal growth and gametophore development. The endogenous levels of some plant hormones were also altered in the double mutant. Transgenic lines that overexpressed CYP78A27 or CYP78A28 showed delayed and reduced bud formation. Our results suggest that CYP78As participate in the synthesis of a critical growth regulator in P. patens.