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Hou Z, Ma X, Shi X, Li X, Yang L, Xiao S, De Clerck O, Leliaert F, Zhong B. Phylotranscriptomic insights into a Mesoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic origin and early radiation of green seaweeds (Ulvophyceae). Nat Commun 2022; 13:1610. [PMID: 35318329 PMCID: PMC8941102 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29282-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The Ulvophyceae, a major group of green algae, is of particular evolutionary interest because of its remarkable morphological and ecological diversity. Its phylogenetic relationships and diversification timeline, however, are still not fully resolved. In this study, using an extensive nuclear gene dataset, we apply coalescent- and concatenation-based approaches to reconstruct the phylogeny of the Ulvophyceae and to explore the sources of conflict in previous phylogenomic studies. The Ulvophyceae is recovered as a paraphyletic group, with the Bryopsidales being a sister group to the Chlorophyceae, and the remaining taxa forming a clade (Ulvophyceae sensu stricto). Molecular clock analyses with different calibration strategies emphasize the large impact of fossil calibrations, and indicate a Meso-Neoproterozoic origin of the Ulvophyceae (sensu stricto), earlier than previous estimates. The results imply that ulvophyceans may have had a profound influence on oceanic redox structures and global biogeochemical cycles at the Mesoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic transition. “Ulvophyceae is a remarkably morphologically and ecologically diverse clade of green algae. Here, the authors reconstruct the Ulvophyceae phylogeny, showing that these algae originated earlier than expected and may have influenced biogeochemical cycles at the Mesoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic transition.”
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Hou
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiaoya Ma
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuan Shi
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xi Li
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Lingxiao Yang
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Shuhai Xiao
- Department of Geosciences and Global Change Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Olivier De Clerck
- Phycology Research Group and Center for Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Frederik Leliaert
- Phycology Research Group and Center for Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium
| | - Bojian Zhong
- College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
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Fournier GP, Parsons CW, Cutts EM, Tamre E. Standard Candles for Dating Microbial Lineages. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2569:41-74. [PMID: 36083443 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2691-7_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Molecular clock analyses are challenging for microbial phylogenies, due to a lack of fossil calibrations that can reliably provide absolute time constraints. An alternative source of temporal constraints for microbial groups is provided by the inheritance of proteins that are specific for the utilization of eukaryote-derived substrates, which have often been dispersed across the Tree of Life via horizontal gene transfer. In particular, animal, algal, and plant-derived substrates are often produced by groups with more precisely known divergence times, providing an older-bound on their availability within microbial environments. Therefore, these ages can serve as "standard candles" for dating microbial groups across the Tree of Life, expanding the reach of informative molecular clock investigations. Here, we formally develop the concept of substrate standard candles and describe how they can be propagated and applied using both microbial species trees and individual gene family phylogenies. We also provide detailed evaluations of several candidate standard candles and discuss their suitability in light of their often complex evolutionary and metabolic histories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory P Fournier
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Chris W Parsons
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Elise M Cutts
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Erik Tamre
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Tang Q, Pang K, Yuan X, Xiao S. A one-billion-year-old multicellular chlorophyte. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:543-549. [PMID: 32094536 PMCID: PMC8668152 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1122-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Chlorophytes (representing a clade within the Viridiplantae and a sister group of the Streptophyta) probably dominated marine export bioproductivity and played a key role in facilitating ecosystem complexity before the Mesozoic diversification of phototrophic eukaryotes such as diatoms, coccolithophorans and dinoflagellates. Molecular clock and biomarker data indicate that chlorophytes diverged in the Mesoproterozoic or early Neoproterozoic, followed by their subsequent phylogenetic diversification, multicellular evolution and ecological expansion in the late Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic. This model, however, has not been rigorously tested with palaeontological data because of the scarcity of Proterozoic chlorophyte fossils. Here we report abundant millimetre-sized, multicellular and morphologically differentiated macrofossils from rocks approximately 1,000 million years ago. These fossils are described as Proterocladus antiquus new species and are interpreted as benthic siphonocladalean chlorophytes, suggesting that chlorophytes acquired macroscopic size, multicellularity and cellular differentiation nearly a billion years ago, much earlier than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Tang
- Department of Geosciences and Global Change Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
| | - Ke Pang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xunlai Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shuhai Xiao
- Department of Geosciences and Global Change Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
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Del Cortona A, Jackson CJ, Bucchini F, Van Bel M, D'hondt S, Škaloud P, Delwiche CF, Knoll AH, Raven JA, Verbruggen H, Vandepoele K, De Clerck O, Leliaert F. Neoproterozoic origin and multiple transitions to macroscopic growth in green seaweeds. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:2551-2559. [PMID: 31911467 PMCID: PMC7007542 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1910060117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The Neoproterozoic Era records the transition from a largely bacterial to a predominantly eukaryotic phototrophic world, creating the foundation for the complex benthic ecosystems that have sustained Metazoa from the Ediacaran Period onward. This study focuses on the evolutionary origins of green seaweeds, which play an important ecological role in the benthos of modern sunlit oceans and likely played a crucial part in the evolution of early animals by structuring benthic habitats and providing novel niches. By applying a phylogenomic approach, we resolve deep relationships of the core Chlorophyta (Ulvophyceae or green seaweeds, and freshwater or terrestrial Chlorophyceae and Trebouxiophyceae) and unveil a rapid radiation of Chlorophyceae and the principal lineages of the Ulvophyceae late in the Neoproterozoic Era. Our time-calibrated tree points to an origin and early diversification of green seaweeds in the late Tonian and Cryogenian periods, an interval marked by two global glaciations with strong consequent changes in the amount of available marine benthic habitat. We hypothesize that unicellular and simple multicellular ancestors of green seaweeds survived these extreme climate events in isolated refugia, and diversified in benthic environments that became increasingly available as ice retreated. An increased supply of nutrients and biotic interactions, such as grazing pressure, likely triggered the independent evolution of macroscopic growth via different strategies, including true multicellularity, and multiple types of giant-celled forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Del Cortona
- Department of Biology, Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
- Bioinformatics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
| | | | - François Bucchini
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
| | - Michiel Van Bel
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
| | - Sofie D'hondt
- Department of Biology, Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Pavel Škaloud
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, CZ-12800 Prague 2, Czech Republic
| | - Charles F Delwiche
- Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
| | - Andrew H Knoll
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - John A Raven
- Division of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute, Dundee DD2 5DA, United Kingdom
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, WA 6009, Australia
- Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology, Ultimo, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Heroen Verbruggen
- School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Klaas Vandepoele
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium;
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
- Bioinformatics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
| | - Olivier De Clerck
- Department of Biology, Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;
| | - Frederik Leliaert
- Department of Biology, Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;
- Meise Botanic Garden, 1860 Meise, Belgium
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