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Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread 600 million years of shared environmental stress response found in algae and plants by University of Gottingen 600 million years of stress The star-shaped algae Zygnema circumcarinatum shows similar stress reactions to the moss (microscope image). Credit: Tatyana Darienko Without plants on land, humans could not live on Earth. From mosses to ferns to grasses to trees, plants are our food, fodder and timber. All this diversity emerged from an algal ancestor that conquered land long ago. The success of land plants is surprising because it is a challenging habitat. On land, rapid shifts in environmental conditions lead to stress, and plants have developed an elaborate molecular machinery for sensing and responding. Now, a research team led by the University of Gottingen has compared algae and plants that span 600 million years of independent evolution and pinpointed a shared stress response network using advanced bioinformatic methods. The results were published in Nature Communications. The closest algal relatives of land plants are the filamentous and unicellular conjugating algae, the zygnematophytes. This group of organisms has received major attention because when researchers compared data about land plants with data about these algae, they could trace back to the very first plants on land. One of the big questions is how the earliest land plants overcame terrestrial stressors. To find out, the team generated hundreds of samples from a moss model system and two zygnematophyte algae challenged by environmental stressors found on land. Using high-throughput sequencing of the active genes and profiling of the compounds produced by the moss and algae under stress, they obtained a comprehensive picture of how the organisms react to the challenges over a course of several hours. By combining evolutionary analysis with statistical modeling and machine learning methods, a shared network of gene regulation was predicted. 600 million years of stress The branching moss Physcomitrium patens, which the researchers used to study stress reactions and compare them to algae (microscope image). Credit: Tatyana Darienko Professor Jan de Vries of Gottingen University, who led the research, explains, "One of the big surprises was that we found several highly connected genes--known as 'hubs'--in the network shared by these very different organisms that actually split from each other in evolutionary terms around 600 million years ago. These hubs appear to bundle information and shape the overall network response." "Now we have a comprehensive dataset of stress responses, combining genetic and biochemical information that can be further explored for its physiological impact across plant diversity," adds Dr. Tim Rieseberg, first author of the study and also at Gottingen University. More information: Tim P. Rieseberg et al, Time-resolved oxidative signal convergence across the algae-embryophyte divide, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56939-y Journal information: Nature Communications Provided by University of Gottingen Citation: 600 million years of shared environmental stress response found in algae and plants (2025, March 10) retrieved 24 March 2025 from https://phys.org/news/ 2025-03-million-years-environmental-stress-response.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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This network includes highly connected genes, or "hubs," that integrate information and influence the overall response to stress. The findings, derived from advanced bioinformatics and high-throughput sequencing, provide insights into how early land plants adapted to terrestrial stressors, offering a comprehensive dataset for further exploration of plant stress physiology. This summary was automatically generated using LLM. Full disclaimer Let us know if there is a problem with our content Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines). 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