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Science 10 August 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5532, pp. 1129 - 1133
DOI: 10.1126/science.1061457
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Reports

Molecular Evidence for the Early Colonization of Land by Fungi and Plants

Daniel S. Heckman,1 David M. Geiser,2 Brooke R. Eidell,1 Rebecca L. Stauffer,1 Natalie L. Kardos,1 S. Blair Hedges1*

The colonization of land by eukaryotes probably was facilitated by a partnership (symbiosis) between a photosynthesizing organism (phototroph) and a fungus. However, the time when colonization occurred remains speculative. The first fossil land plants and fungi appeared 480 to 460 million years ago (Ma), whereas molecular clock estimates suggest an earlier colonization of land, about 600 Ma. Our protein sequence analyses indicate that green algae and major lineages of fungi were present 1000 Ma and that land plants appeared by 700 Ma, possibly affecting Earth's atmosphere, climate, and evolution of animals in the Precambrian.

1 Astrobiology Research Center and Department of Biology,
2 Department of Plant Pathology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Biology, 208 Mueller Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; e-mail: sbh1{at}psu.edu

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