Comments |
P.73 left column bottom paragraph: "A Recent molecular phylogenetic studies indicate that land plants (embryophytes) emerged from a type of freshwater, multicellular green alga that was most
likely related to extant Charophyte algae (refs 3, 4). Thus, Embryophyta and Charophyta formed a monophyletic group, the Streptophyta, which is a sister group to other forms of green algae (Fig. 1). Among the extant species, three classes of Charophyte algae—Zygnematophyceae, Coleochaetophyceae, and Charophyceae—are considered the closest living algal relatives to land plants, and these groups share many common features, including hexametric cellulose synthases, plasmodesmata, and the presence of phragmoplasts (refs 3 ,5 ,6). In fact, it has been hypothesized that ancestral land plants originated from a type of Charophyta green alga, then adapted gradually to life on land, probably through exposure to seasonally dry or intermediately moist terrestrial habitats (refs 6–8)." See note beneath table |