DG Schaefer 2001.pdfVIP

Update on Physcomitrella patens The Moss Physcomitrella patens, Now and Then Didier G. Schaefer* and Jean-Pierre Zry?d Laboratoire de Phytoge?ne?tique Cellulaire, Institut d’Ecologie, Universite? de Lausanne, CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Mosses (Musci, Bryophytaea) are one of the oldest groups of land plants present among the earth’s flora. They originated 500 million years ago (for a recent discussion of the time scale involved, see Heckman et al., 2001) and are currently represented by approximately 10,000 species that colonize diverse habitats that range from high mountains to deep forests