An Algal Greening of Land

William F Martin; John F Allen

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.034

An Algal Greening of Land

Cell. 2018 Jul 12;174(2):256-258. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.034.

Authors

William F Martin¹, John F Allen²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: bill@hhu.de.
² Research Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, Darwin Building, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. Electronic address: j.f.allen@ucl.ac.uk.

PMID: 30007415
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.034

Abstract

Photosynthetic eukaryotes arose ∼1.5 billion years ago by endosymbiosis with a cyanobacterium. Algae then evolved for a billion years before one lineage finally colonized land. Why the wait? The Chara braunii genome details a decisive step linking plant origins with Earth's history.

Publication types

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MeSH terms

Biological Evolution
Chara / genetics*
Eukaryota / genetics*
Plants / genetics
Symbiosis / genetics