Journal Article

Physcomitrella Genome Reveals Evolutionary Insights into the Conquest of Land by Plants

Yamaguchi, Kazuo, Gundlach, Heidrun, Salamov, Asaf, Tanahashi, Takako, Terry, Astrid, Perroud, Pierre-François, Lindquist, Erika A, Ashton, Neil, Bennetzen, Jeffrey L, Fawcett, Jeffrey A, Shiu, Shin-Han, Theodoulou, Frederica L, Murata, Takashi, Toyoda, Atsushi, Anterola, Aldwin, Hasebe, Mitsuyasu, Hanada, Kousuke, Kohara, Yuji, Melkozernov, Alexander, Mishler, Brent D, Lucas, Susan, Mayer, Klaus, Rombauts, Stephane, Fujita, Tomomichi, Grigoriev, Igor V, Suzuki, Yutaka, Kuroki, Yoko, Oishi, Kazuko, Prigge, Michael, Renner, Tanya, Nishiyama, Tomoaki, Shin-I, Tadasu, Aoki, Setsuyuki, Dutcher, Susan K, Hashimoto, Shin-ichi, Van de Peer, Yves, Quatrano, Ralph S, Lang, Daniel, Hughes, Jon, Estelle, Mark, Barker, Elizabeth, Blankenship, Robert, Shapiro, Harris, Schween, Gabriele, Cuming, Andrew C, Nelson, David R, Reski, Ralf, Stueber, Kurt, Verrier, Paul J, Kamisugi, Yasuko, Boore, Jeffrey L, Lohr, Martin, Sugano, Sumio, Sanderfoot, Anton, Fujiyama, Asao, Cho, Sung Hyun, Cove, David, Sakakibara, Keiko, Yang, Lixing, Barbazuk, W. Brad, Wood, Andrew, Waters, Elizabeth, Rensing, Stefan A, Heyl, Alexander, Hicks, Karen

2008

Overview

We report the draft genome sequence of the model moss Physcomitrella patens and compare its features with those of flowering plants, from which it is separated by more than 400 million years, and unicellular aquatic algae. This comparison reveals genomic changes concomitant with the evolutionary movement to land, including a general increase in gene family complexity; loss of genes associated with aquatic environments (e.g., flagellar arms); acquisition of genes for tolerating terrestrial stresses (e.g., variation in temperature and water availability); and the development of the auxin and abscisic acid signaling pathways for coordinating multicellular growth and dehydration response. The Physcomitrella genome provides a resource for phylogenetic inferences about gene function and for experimental analysis of plant processes through this plant's unique facility for reverse genetics.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: abscisic acid / Adaptation, Physiological / Algae / Angiospermae / Animals / Aquatic ecosystems / Aquatic environment / Arabidopsis - genetics / Arabidopsis - physiology / auxins / Biological and medical sciences / Biological Evolution / Biology / Botany / Bryophytes / Bryopsida - genetics / Bryopsida - physiology / Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - genetics / Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - physiology / Computational Biology / Dehydration / DNA Repair / Evolution / Evolutionary biology / Flowering plants / Flowers & plants / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Gene Duplication / genes / Genes, Plant / Genetics / Genome, Plant / Genomes / Genomics / Magnoliopsida - genetics / Magnoliopsida - physiology / Metabolic Networks and Pathways - genetics / Mosses / mosses and liverworts / Multigene Family / nucleotide sequences / Oryza - genetics / Oryza - physiology / Phylogeny / Physcomitrella / Physcomitrella patens / Plant cytology, morphology, systematics, chorology and evolution / Plant evolution / Plant Proteins - genetics / Plant Proteins - physiology / Plants / Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Research universities / Retroelements / Sequence Analysis, DNA / Signal transduction / Signal Transduction - genetics / Water availability / water temperature