A positively gravitropic mutant mirrors the wild-type protonemal response in the moss Ceratodon purpureus

Wild-type Ceratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid. protonemata grow up in the dark by negative gravitropism. When upright wild-type protonemata are reoriented 90°, they temporarily grow down soon after reorientation (“initial reversal”) and also prior to cytokinesis (“mitotic reversal”). A positively gravitropic mutant designated wrong-way response (wwr-1) has been isolated by screening ultraviolet light-mutagenized Ceratodon protonemata. Protonemata of wwr-1 reoriented from the vertical to the horizontal grow down with kinetics comparable to those of the wild-type. Protonemata of wwr-1 also show initial and mitotic reversals where they temporarily grow up. Thus, the direction of gravitropism, initial reversal, and mitotic reversal are coordinated though each are opposite in wwr-1 compared to the wild-type. Normal plastid zonation is still maintained in dark-grown wwr-1 apical cells, but the plastids are more numerous and plastid sedimentation is more pronounced. In addition, wwr-1 apical cells are wider and the tips greener than in the wild-type. These data suggest that a functional WWR gene product is not necessary for the establishment of some gravitropic polarity, for gravitropism, or for the coordination of the reversals. Thus, the WWR protein may normally transduce information about cell orientation. Received: 4 November 1996 / Accepted: 26 November 1996