The Closest Living Relatives of Land Plants
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- Kenneth G. Karol
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
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- Richard M. McCourt
- Department of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
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- Matthew T. Cimino
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
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- Charles F. Delwiche
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Abstract
<jats:p> The embryophytes (land plants) have long been thought to be related to the green algal group Charophyta, though the nature of this relationship and the origin of the land plants have remained unresolved. A four-gene phylogenetic analysis was conducted to investigate these relationships. This analysis supports the hypothesis that the land plants are placed phylogenetically within the Charophyta, identifies the Charales (stoneworts) as the closest living relatives of plants, and shows the Coleochaetales as sister to this Charales/land plant assemblage. The results also support the unicellular flagellate <jats:italic>Mesostigma</jats:italic> as the earliest branch of the charophyte lineage. These findings provide insight into the nature of the ancestor of plants, and have broad implications for understanding the transition from aquatic green algae to terrestrial plants. </jats:p>
Journal
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- Science
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Science 294 (5550), 2351-2353, 2001-12-14
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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Keywords
Details 詳細情報について
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- CRID
- 1361418520492113024
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- NII Article ID
- 30020371341
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- ISSN
- 10959203
- 00368075
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- Data Source
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- Crossref
- CiNii Articles