2015 journal article

Algal ancestor of land plants was preadapted for symbiosis

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 112(43), 13390–13395.

By: P. Delaux*, G. Radhakrishnan*, D. Jayaraman*, J. Cheem*, M. Malbreil*, J. Volkening*, H. Sekimoto*, T. Nishiyama* ...

co-author countries: Canada 🇨🇦 China 🇨🇳 Germany 🇩🇪 Spain 🇪🇸 France 🇫🇷 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧 Japan 🇯🇵 United States of America 🇺🇸
author keywords: symbiosis; plant evolution; algae; plant-microbe interactions; phylogeny
MeSH headings : Adaptation, Biological / genetics; Adaptation, Biological / physiology; Base Sequence; Biological Evolution; Chlorophyta / genetics; Chlorophyta / physiology; Closterium / genetics; Closterium / growth & development; DNA Primers / genetics; Embryophyta / genetics; Embryophyta / physiology; Fungi / physiology; Hepatophyta / genetics; Hepatophyta / growth & development; Likelihood Functions; Medicago truncatula / microbiology; Models, Genetic; Molecular Sequence Data; Mycorrhizae / physiology; Phylogeny; Plant Proteins / genetics; Plant Roots / microbiology; RNA, Plant / genetics; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Spirogyra / genetics; Spirogyra / growth & development; Symbiosis / genetics; Symbiosis / physiology
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

Significance Colonization of land by plants was a critical event for the emergence of extant ecosystems. The innovations that allowed the algal ancestor of land plants to succeed in such a transition remain unknown. Beneficial interaction with symbiotic fungi has been proposed as one of these innovations. Here we show that the genes required for this interaction appeared in a stepwise manner: Some evolved before the colonization of land by plants and others first appeared in land plants. We thus propose that the algal ancestor of land plants was preadapted for interaction with beneficial fungi and employed these gene networks to colonize land successfully.