Résumé
(Table presented.). Summary: Photosynthetic eukaryotes thrive anywhere there is sunlight and water. But while such organisms are exceptionally diverse in form and function, only one phototrophic lineage succeeded in rising above its substrate: the land plants (embryophytes). Molecular phylogenetic data show that land plants evolved from streptophyte algae most closely related to extant Zygnematophyceae, and one of the principal aims of plant evolutionary biology is to uncover the key features of such algae that enabled this important transition. At the present time, however, mosaic and reductive evolution blur our picture of the closest algal ancestors of plants. Here we discuss recent progress and problems in inferring the biology of the algal progenitor of the terrestrial photosynthetic macrobiome.
| Langue d'origine | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (de-à) | 1428-1434 |
| Nombre de pages | 7 |
| Journal | New Phytologist |
| Volume | 217 |
| Numéro de publication | 4 |
| DOI | |
| Statut de publication | Published - mars 2018 |
Note bibliographique
Funding Information:J.d.V. gratefully acknowledges funding through a German Research Foundation (DFG) Research Fellowship (VR132/1-1). We thank the editor, Marc-AndréSelosse, and three anonymous referees for excellent and detailed comments that improved the manuscript. We further thank Gary W. Saunders (University of New Brunswick), Craig W. Schneider (Trinity College), Michael Wynne (University of Michigan), and Michael Guiry (National University of Ireland) for very helpful correspondence. Finally, we thank Debbie Maizels (Zoobotanica Scientific Illustration: www.sc ientific-art.com) for her outstanding work (Fig. 1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Physiology
- Plant Science