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The Land–Sea Connection: Insights Into the Plant Lineage from a Green Algal Perspective

Journal Article · · Annual Review of Plant Biology
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
  2. Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, CNRS UMR 7257, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), Marseille, France; Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; DTU Bioengineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
  3. Ocean EcoSystems Biology Unit, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany; Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany

The colonization of land by plants generated opportunities for the rise of new heterotrophic life forms, including humankind. A unique event underpinned this massive change to earth ecosystems—the advent of eukaryotic green algae. Today, an abundant marine green algal group, the prasinophytes, alongside prasinodermophytes and nonmarine chlorophyte algae, is facilitating insights into plant developments. Genome-level data allow identification of conserved proteins and protein families with extensive modifications, losses, or gains and expansion patterns that connect to niche specialization and diversification. Here, we contextualize attributes according to Viridiplantae evolutionary relationships, starting with orthologous protein families, and then focusing on key elements with marked differentiation, resulting in patchy distributions across green algae and plants. We place attention on peptidoglycan biosynthesis, important for plastid division and walls; phytochrome photosensors that are master regulators in plants; and carbohydrate-active enzymes, essential to all manner of carbohydratebiotransformations. Together with advances in algal model systems, these areas are ripe for discovering molecular roles and innovations within and across plant and algal lineages.

Research Organization:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
SC0004765
OSTI ID:
1980840
Journal Information:
Annual Review of Plant Biology, Vol. 73, Issue 1; ISSN 1543-5008
Publisher:
Annual Reviews
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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