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

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.

¹ Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schaenzlestrasse 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
² U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA.
³ DOE Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598, USA.
⁴ Advanced Science Research Center, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi Kanazawa 920-0934, Japan.
⁵ Department of Biology, Washington University, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130–4899, USA.
⁶ Centre for Plant Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
⁷ National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
⁸ Department of Basic Biology, School of Life Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
⁹ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
¹¹ Genome Biology Laboratory, Center for Genetic Resource Information, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima 411-8540, Japan.
¹² RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan.
¹³ Laboratory of Functional Genomics, Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Molecular Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan.
¹⁵ Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.
¹⁶ Department of Genetics, School of Life Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Mishima 411-8540, Japan.
¹⁷ National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo 101-8403, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Informatics, School of Multidisciplinary Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Tokyo 101-8403, Japan.
¹⁹ Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901–6509, USA.
²⁰ Life-Science Informatics Unit, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
²¹ University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada.
²² Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA.
²³ Department of Genetics, Davison Life Sciences Complex, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602–7223, USA.
²⁴ Department of Genetics, Washington University, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.
²⁵ Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405–3700, USA.
²⁶ VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, Ghent University, Technologie Park 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium.
²⁷ MIPS/IBI Institute for Bioinformatics, GSF Research Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstaedter Landstrasse 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany.
²⁸ Department of Plant Biology, 166 Plant Biology Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824–1312, USA.
²⁹ RIKEN Plant Science Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan.
³⁰ Free University, Institute for Biology, Applied Genetics Neubau, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
³¹ Max-Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research, Carl-von-Linne-Weg 10, D-50829 Cologne, Germany.
³² Biology Department, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 43022, USA.
³³ Pflanzenphysiologie, Justus Liebig University, Senckenbergstrasse 3, D-35390 Giessen, Germany.
³⁴ Institute of General Botany, Johannes Gutenberg-University, D-55099 Mainz, Germany.
³⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–1604, USA.
³⁶ University of Tennessee-Memphis, 101 Molecular Science Building, 858 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
³⁷ Department of Bioinformatics, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, Würzburg University, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
³⁸ Biology Department, San Diego State University, North Life Sciences Room 102, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182–4614, USA.
³⁹ Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, 485 McCormick Road, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.
⁴⁰ Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, 250 Biological Science Center, 1445 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁴¹ Biological Chemistry Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
⁴² Biomathematics and Bioinformatics Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
⁴³ ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
⁴⁴ Department of Integrative Biology, 3060 Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁴⁵ Genome Project Solutions, 1024 Promenade Street, Hercules, CA 94547, USA.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: rsq{at}wustl.edu

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