Journal article

Publication year: 1998

Pages: 612-622

Journal: Physiologia Plantarum

Volume number: 102

Issue number: 4

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-3054.1998.1020417.x

Publisher: Wiley

Abstract: 

The phytochromes, a class of plant light‐sensing pigments, are a gene
family with a long, complex evolutionary history. Angiosperms each have
five or more phytochromes (designated A to E in Arabidopsis) with
distinct functions as light receptors and only moderate sequence
identities for different types within a species. The long‐term challenge
taken up here is to trace the origin and function of the various motifs
within the angiosperm phytochromes through gymnosperm phytochromes
(types N, O and P) and lower plant phytochromes, sometimes reaching even
to bacterial progenitor molecules. Particularly intriguing are the
findings of homology of a C‐terminal region of phytochromes with
bacterial transmitter modules and of a large N‐terminal region with a
protein encoded by a gene from the cyanobacterum Synechocystis.
Phylogenetic analysis helps to answer general questions such as the
times of divergence of mono‐ and dicotyledons, of groups of gymnosperms
or of ferns. Phytochrome sequences suggest (1) that mono‐ and
dicotyledons became separated 150‐200 million years earlier than
indicated by the fossil record and (2) that Ginkgo and Cycas have been separated unexpectedly late from the lineage giving rise to the Pinidae. (3) The status of Psilotum
as a close relative of the primeval vascular plants is not supported.
Phytochrome gene sequences additionally reveal that (4) moss and fern
phytochromes have erratically acquired C‐termini which, though
kinase‐like, are different from the common ones and that (5) introns
have been lost, gained or shifted in position from algae to angiosperms.
Phytochromes promise to be a rich source of phylogenetic information
into the future as more sequences and functional data emerge, not least
from studies of lower plants.

Harvard Citation style: Schneider-Poetsch, H., Kolukisaoglu, Ü., Clapham, D., Hughes, J. and Lamparter, T. (1998) Non‐angiosperm phytochromes and the evolution of vascular plants, Physiologia Plantarum, 102(4), pp. 612-622. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-3054.1998.1020417.x

APA Citation style: Schneider-Poetsch, H., Kolukisaoglu, Ü., Clapham, D., Hughes, J., & Lamparter, T. (1998). Non‐angiosperm phytochromes and the evolution of vascular plants. Physiologia Plantarum. 102(4), 612-622. https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1399-3054.1998.1020417.x