Ancestors closest to plants

2002/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika

Some 470 million years ago, the first plants came out of the water and spread over the land surface. Now, a group of researchers from the University of Maryland in the US has stated that the ancestors closest to land plants can be Charales algae.

The Charales belong to the group of green algae whose remains, like terrestrial plants, can be found in fossils of more than 400 million years ago. The ancestor of both disappeared long before. Although this common ancestor is unknown, genetic research has allowed us to detect how it was. According to the researchers, as branch had filaments and it was reproduced with eggs and sperm.

Before conducting a gene-based study, terrestrial plants, Charales algae, and another group of algae called Coleochaetales were considered close. But now they know that, although the Coleochaetales are close to the terrestrial plants, the Charales Algae are even closer. Genetic information allows you to know better how plants managed to spread throughout the biosphere.