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Kenneth G. Karol,1*Richard M. McCourt,2Matthew T. Cimino,1Charles F. Delwiche1
The embryophytes (land plants) have long been thought to
be related to the green algal group Charophyta, though the natureof
this relationship and the origin of the land plants have remainedunresolved. A four-gene phylogenetic analysis was conducted toinvestigate these relationships. This analysis supports the hypothesisthat the land plants are placed phylogenetically within the Charophyta,identifies the Charales (stoneworts) as the closest living relativesof
plants, and shows the Coleochaetales as sister to this Charales/landplant assemblage. The results also support the unicellular flagellateMesostigma as the earliest branch of the charophyte lineage.
Thesefindings provide insight into the nature of the ancestor of
plants,and have broad implications for understanding the transition
fromaquatic green algae to terrestrial plants.
1 Department of Cell Biology and Molecular
Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
2 Department of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences,
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
karol{at}umail.umd.edu
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