McCourt Richard M, Delwiche Charles F, Karol Kenneth G
Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 Dec;19(12):661-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.09.013.
The charophyte algae are six distinct groups of mostly freshwater green algae that are related to modern land plants. Charophyte algae exhibit diverse morphologies and reproductive strategies, from unicells to branching erect forms, and from swimming asexual spores to sex involving eggs and sperm, respectively. The green algae known as stoneworts (Charales) are suggested to be the extant sister group to all land plants, although the phylogeny is not conclusive. Here we review recent molecular phylogenetic work on the charophyte algae and its implications for our understanding of the origins of land plants and of characters in their aquatic ancestors that might have played a role in the explosive diversification of plants on land.
轮藻是六个不同的主要为淡水绿藻的类群，它们与现代陆地植物有亲缘关系。轮藻呈现出多样的形态和繁殖策略，从单细胞到分支直立形态，从游动的无性孢子到分别涉及卵和精子的有性生殖。被称为轮藻纲（Charales）的绿藻被认为是所有陆地植物现存的姐妹类群，尽管系统发育关系尚无定论。在这里，我们综述了关于轮藻的近期分子系统发育研究工作，及其对我们理解陆地植物起源以及水生祖先中可能在植物在陆地上的爆发式多样化过程中发挥作用的特征的意义。
