title: The Origin of Land Plants: A Phylogenomic Perspective.
abstract: Land plants are a natural group, and Charophyte algae are the closest lineages of land plants and have six morphologically diverged groups. The conjugating green algae (Zygnematales) are now suggested to be the extant sister group to land plants, providing the novel understanding for character evolution and early multicellular innovations in land plants. We review recent molecular phylogenetic work on the origin of land plants and discuss some future directions in phylogenomic analyses.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Bojian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Linhua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penny
keywords: Charophyte algae; Zygnematales; gene tree heterogeneity; land plants; phylogenomics