Growing with the flow: how PIN mediated auxin transport helps to shape the growth and development of the liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha

Plants have an amazing capacity for growth which allows them to dominate the land around us, acquiring complex forms that continuously shape themselves to suit their environment. This is a real super-power, but in order to wield it effectively plant cells need to know how to grow and that information is communicated by phytohormones. This thesis focuses on how the flow of the phytohormone auxin is controlled by the MpPIN1 gene in the liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha. With insights from their relationship providing a window over 450 million years into the past, to the ancient origin of plant life on land.