Draparnaldia (chlorophytes), an emerging model for comparative analyses with basal streptophytes. Drapa

It is generally accepted that land plants evolved from streptophyte algae. However, there are also many chlorophytes (a sister group of streptophyte algae and land plants) that moved to terrestrial habitats and even resemble mosses. Why no land plants evolved from Chlorophytes? To better understand what are the evolutionary novelties that enabled the streptophyte algae to colonize land, we are currently establishing the chlorophyte alga Draparnaldia sp. (Chaetophorales, Chlorophyceae) as a model for comparative analyses between these two lineages.