MpTGA, together with MpNPR, regulates sexual reproduction and independently affects oil body formation in Marchantia polymorpha

Summary In angiosperms, basic leucine‐zipper (bZIP) TGACG‐motif‐binding (TGA) transcription factors (TFs) regulate developmental and stress‐related processes, the latter often involving NON EXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS‐RELATED GENES (NPR) coregulator interactions. To gain insight into their functions in an early diverging land‐plant lineage, the single MpTGA and sole MpNPR genes were investigated in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. We generated Marchantia MpTGA and MpNPR knockout and overexpression mutants and conducted morphological, transcriptomic and expression studies. Furthermore, we investigated MpTGA interactions with wild‐type and mutagenized MpNPR and expanded our analyses including TGA TFs from two streptophyte algae. Mptga mutants fail to induce the switch from vegetative to reproductive development and lack gametangiophore formation. MpTGA and MpNPR proteins interact and Mpnpr mutant analysis reveals a novel coregulatory NPR role in sexual reproduction. Additionally, MpTGA acts independently of MpNPR as a repressor of oil body (OB) formation and can thereby affect herbivory. The single MpTGA TF exerts a dual role in sexual reproduction and OB formation in Marchantia. Common activities of MpTGA/MpNPR in sexual development suggest that coregulatory interactions were established after emergence of land‐plant‐specific NPR genes and contributed to the diversification of TGA TF functions during land‐plant evolution.