Inferring the nature of the most recent common ancestor of plants

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stefan A. Rensing
• Subject Area: Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi ; Plant Genetics and Genomics ; Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 527529748

Approximately 500 million years ago, plant life conquered a barren terrestrial habitat. All plant life thriving on the surface of Earth today is derived from that singular event. Based on fossil, genomic and trait data that has become available during the first MAdLand funding period, we will perform state-of-the-art phylogenomics and ancestral state reconstruction. Thus, we aim to infer the evolution of plant key traits before and after the transition to land. These analyzes are expected to much increase our understanding of the nature and timeline of evolutionary adaptive events to a drastically different environment, allowing plants to live on land. The project aims at unravelling the enigmatic nature of the most recent common ancestor of plants.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2237: MAdLand — Molecular Adaptation to Land: plant evolution to change
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Björn Grüning; Professor Dr. Jan de Vries
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Philip Donoghue; Dr. Paul Kenrick