27:	Microbial symbionts and the evolution of fruit.

Authors:	Briand, Christopher, H.(A)Holland, Mark, A.(A)
Affiliations:	(A): Department of Biology, Salisbury State University
Presenter:	Holland, Mark A., maholland@ssu.edu

By any measure, the angiosperms are the most diverse and ecologically successful group in the plant kingdom. Speculations about the reasons for this are many and range from lofty mathematical arguments to Just So Stories. Most modern interpretations, however, emphasize co-evolution with animals both as pollinators and as agents of seed dispersal as key ingredients in the angiosperm formula for success. Recent work in our laboratories suggests that a previously unrecognized difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms, the placement of seed-borne microbial symbionts inside the seed coat of the angiosperms but on the seed surface of the gymnosperms, was a significant evolutionary innovation in the angiosperms and a necessary precondition for the success of seeds dispersed by fructivorous animals.