Chloroplast genomes have retained a core set of genes from their cyanobacterial ancestor,
most of them required for the light reactions of photosynthesis or functions connected with …

The evolutionary emergence of land plant body plans transformed the planet. However, our
understanding of this formative episode is mired in the uncertainty associated with the …

Reconstructing the origin and evolution of land plants and their algal relatives is a
fundamental problem in plant phylogenetics, and is essential for understanding how critical …

This review bridges functional and evolutionary aspects of plastid chromosome architecture
in land plants and their putative ancestors. We provide an overview on the structure and …

The field of comparative plastid genomics has burgeoned during the past decade, largely
due to the availability of rapid, less expensive genome sequencing technologies. Currently …

Land plants evolved from freshwater charophyte algal ancestors during a single transition to
the terrestrial environment. The six major lineages of land plants are divided into two groups …

Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships between the four major lineages of terrestrial
plants (mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and vascular plants) is essential for an understanding …

Plants are the primary producers of the terrestrial ecosystems that dominate much of the
natural environment. Occurring approximately 480 Ma (Sanderson 2003; Kenrick et al …

Background Camellia, comprising more than 200 species, is a valuable economic
commodity due to its enormously popular commercial products: tea leaves, flowers, and high …

The amount of DNA in the nucleus of a cell is commonly referred to as the genome size or C-
value and people have been estimating this character in plants and animals for over 50 …