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September 22, 2019

The Chara genome: Secondary complexity and implications for plant terrestrialization.

Authors: Nishiyama, Tomoaki and Sakayama, Hidetoshi and de Vries, Jan and Buschmann, Henrik and Saint-Marcoux, Denis and Ullrich, Kristian K and Haas, Fabian B and Vanderstraeten, Lisa and Becker, Dirk and Lang, Daniel and Vosolsobe, Stanislav and Rombauts, Stephane and Wilhelmsson, Per K I and Janitza, Philipp and Kern, Ramona and Heyl, Alexander and Rümpler, Florian and Villalobos, Luz Irina A Calderón and Clay, John M and Skokan, Roman and Toyoda, Atsushi and Suzuki, Yutaka and Kagoshima, Hiroshi and Schijlen, Elio and Tajeshwar, Navindra and Catarino, Bruno and Hetherington, Alexander J and Saltykova, Assia and Bonnot, Clemence and Breuninger, Holger and Symeonidi, Aikaterini and Radhakrishnan, Guru V and Van Nieuwerburgh, Filip and Deforce, Dieter and Chang, Caren and Karol, Kenneth G and Hedrich, Rainer and Ulvskov, Peter and Glöckner, Gernot and Delwiche, Charles F and Petrášek, Jan and Van de Peer, Yves and Friml, Jiri and Beilby, Mary and Dolan, Liam and Kohara, Yuji and Sugano, Sumio and Fujiyama, Asao and Delaux, Pierre-Marc and Quint, Marcel and Theißen, Günter and Hagemann, Martin and Harholt, Jesper and Dunand, Christophe and Zachgo, Sabine and Langdale, Jane and Maumus, Florian and Van Der Straeten, Dominique and Gould, Sven B and Rensing, Stefan A

Land plants evolved from charophytic algae, among which Charophyceae possess the most complex body plans. We present the genome of Chara braunii; comparison of the genome to those of land plants identified evolutionary novelties for plant terrestrialization and land plant heritage genes. C. braunii employs unique xylan synthases for cell wall biosynthesis, a phragmoplast (cell separation) mechanism similar to that of land plants, and many phytohormones. C. braunii plastids are controlled via land-plant-like retrograde signaling, and transcriptional regulation is more elaborate than in other algae. The morphological complexity of this organism may result from expanded gene families, with three cases of particular note: genes effecting tolerance to reactive oxygen species (ROS), LysM receptor-like kinases, and transcription factors (TFs). Transcriptomic analysis of sexual reproductive structures reveals intricate control by TFs, activity of the ROS gene network, and the ancestral use of plant-like storage and stress protection proteins in the zygote. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal: Cell
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.033
Year: 2018

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