The evolutionary emergence of land plants.
Curr Biol
; 31(19): R1281-R1298, 2021 10 11.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34637740
There can be no doubt that early land plant evolution transformed the planet but, until recently, how and when this was achieved was unclear. Coincidence in the first appearance of land plant fossils and formative shifts in atmospheric oxygen and CO2 are an artefact of the paucity of earlier terrestrial rocks. Disentangling the timing of land plant bodyplan assembly and its impact on global biogeochemical cycles has been precluded by uncertainty concerning the relationships of bryophytes to one another and to the tracheophytes, as well as the timescale over which these events unfolded. New genome and transcriptome sequencing projects, combined with the application of sophisticated phylogenomic modelling methods, have yielded increasing support for the Setaphyta clade of liverworts and mosses, within monophyletic bryophytes. We consider the evolution of anatomy, genes, genomes and of development within this phylogenetic context, concluding that many vascular plant (tracheophytes) novelties were already present in a comparatively complex last common ancestor of living land plants (embryophytes). Molecular clock analyses indicate that embryophytes emerged in a mid-Cambrian to early Ordovician interval, compatible with hypotheses on their role as geoengineers, precipitating early Palaeozoic glaciations.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Embryophyta
/
Briófitas
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Curr Biol
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido