Journal
PLANT JOURNAL
Volume 107, Issue 4, Pages 975-1002Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15387
Keywords
phenylpropanoid biosynthesis; plant evolution; evolution of gene families; evo-physio
Categories
Funding
- Ph.D. program 'Microbiology and Biochemistry' within 'Gottingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences' (GGNB) at the University of Goettingen
- International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Genome Science
- European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [852725]
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [SPP 2237, VR 132/4-1, PE 360/37-1, FE 446/14-1]
- Projekt DEAL
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Land plants respond to environmental fluctuations by producing specialized metabolites, with the phenylpropanoid pathway playing a crucial role. Recent research has shown that enzyme families involved in this pathway have undergone significant radiations and divergence in major groups of land plants, with algal candidates also identified. This evolutionary versatility may contribute to the rich specialized metabolism observed in embryophytes.
Land plants constantly respond to fluctuations in their environment. Part of their response is the production of a diverse repertoire of specialized metabolites. One of the foremost sources for metabolites relevant to environmental responses is the phenylpropanoid pathway, which was long thought to be a land-plant-specific adaptation shaped by selective forces in the terrestrial habitat. Recent data have, however, revealed that streptophyte algae, the algal relatives of land plants, have candidates for the genetic toolkit for phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and produce phenylpropanoid-derived metabolites. Using phylogenetic and sequence analyses, we here show that the enzyme families that orchestrate pivotal steps in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis have independently undergone pronounced radiations and divergence in multiple lineages of major groups of land plants; sister to many of these radiated gene families are streptophyte algal candidates for these enzymes. These radiations suggest a high evolutionary versatility in the enzyme families involved in the phenylpropanoid-derived metabolism across embryophytes. We suggest that this versatility likely translates into functional divergence, and may explain the key to one of the defining traits of embryophytes: a rich specialized metabolism.
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