Evolution

Identification of transcription factor genes and their correlation with the high diversity of stramenopiles.

The biological diversity among Stramenopiles is striking; they range from large multicellular seaweeds to tiny unicellular species, they embrace many ecologically important autothrophic (e.g., diatoms, brown algae), and heterotrophic (e.g., …

Molecular Evolution of Slow and Quick Anion Channels (SLACs and QUACs/ALMTs).

Electrophysiological analyses conducted about 25 years ago detected two types of anion channels in the plasma membrane of guard cells. One type of channel responds slowly to changes in membrane voltage while the other responds quickly. Consequently, …

The Selaginella genome identifies genetic changes associated with the evolution of vascular plants.

Vascular plants appeared ~410 million years ago, then diverged into several lineages of which only two survive: the euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants) and the lycophytes. We report here the genome sequence of the lycophyte Selaginella …

Genome-wide phylogenetic comparative analysis of plant transcriptional regulation: a timeline of loss, gain, expansion, and correlation with complexity.

Evolutionary retention of duplicated genes encoding transcription-associated proteins (TAPs, comprising transcription factors and other transcriptional regulators) has been hypothesized to be positively correlated with increasing morphological …

The role of bZIP transcription factors in green plant evolution: adaptive features emerging from four founder genes.

BACKGROUND: Transcription factors of the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) family control important processes in all eukaryotes. In plants, bZIPs are regulators of many central developmental and physiological processes including photomorphogenesis, leaf …