Molecular Evidence for the Early Colonization of Land by Fungi and Plants
Abstract
The colonization of land by eukaryotes probably was facilitated by a partnership (symbiosis) between a photosynthesizing organism (phototroph) and a fungus. However, the time when colonization occurred remains speculative. The first fossil land plants and fungi appeared 480 to 460 million years ago (Ma), whereas molecular clock estimates suggest an earlier colonization of land, about 600 Ma. Our protein sequence analyses indicate that green algae and major lineages of fungi were present 1000 Ma and that land plants appeared by 700 Ma, possibly affecting Earth's atmosphere, climate, and evolution of animals in the Precambrian.
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The greatest discrepancy between age estimates without and with the clock assumption is observed for the Saccharomyces/Candida split, estimated at 168-308 (mean 235) Mya compared with 841 Mya.
“The greatest discrepancy between age estimates without and with the clock assumption is observed for the Saccharomyces/Candida split, here estimated at 168–308 (mean 235) Mya (Fig. 1) compared with 841 Mya (45).”
From The timing of eukaryotic evolution: Does a relaxed molecular clock reconcile proteins and fossils? (2004) · cites this paper as [45]
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- Authors
- Heckman, D. S., Geiser, D. M., Eidell, B. R., Stauffer, R. L., Kardos, N. L., & Hedges, S. B.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hedges, S. Blair
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2001-08-10
- Volume
- 293
- Issue
- 5532
- Pages
- 1129-1133
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2046255935
- Cited by
- 1,020
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 54 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 45 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 61
- FWCI
- 15.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Plant Diversity and Evolution
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Keywords
- land colonization, fungi, land plants, plant-fungal symbiosis, molecular clock, green algae, Precambrian, atmospheric oxygenation, protein divergence
- MeSH terms
- Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Fungal Proteins, Fungi, Phylogeny, Plants, Symbiosis, Time, Databases, Factual, Sequence Alignment, Ecosystem, Sequence Analysis, Protein
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