Chara is a large and structurally complex green alga that is common in streams and ponds worldwide.Chara the other stoneworts (Charophyceae sensu stricto, or Charales sensu Mattox and Stewart) form an important component of the freshwater flora, and have superficial structural similarities to land plants. In 2001 our lab published a paper indicating that the stoneworts were the sister taxon to embryophytes (land plants), but more recent work using larger numbers of genes have consistently shown the Zygnematophyceae (conjugating green algae) to be the sister taxon, with Charophyceae s.s. and Coleochatophyceae being a bit further out. Nonetheless, these are key organisms to understanding the origin of a terrestrial flora.
Our laboratory collaborated on the Chara genome, out now in Cell. We worked on the overall biology of Chara, and in collaboration with Caren Chang and John Clay, worked on the analysis of the ethylene system in Chara, and also contributed to work on other hormone and developmental pathways.In addition, coauthor Ken Karol, an expert in biodiversity of Chara and related organisms at the New York Botanical Garden, received his Ph.D. working in the lab. Any genome project is a huge effort and requires the cooperation of many labs. Stefan Rensing, Tamoaki Nishiyama, and Hidetoshi Sakayama (who spent six months in our lab as a visiting scholar) all put tremendous amounts of effort into leading the project.
Nishiyama, T., H. Sakayama, J. de Vries, H. Buschmann, D. Saint-Marcoux, K. K. Ullrich, F. B. Haas, L. Vanderstraeten, D. Becker, D. Lang, S. Vosolsobě, S. Rombauts, P. K. I. Wilhelmsson, P. Janitza, R. Kern, A. Heyl, F. Rümpler, L. I. A. C. Villalobos, J. M. Clay, R. Skokan, A. Toyoda, Y. Suzuki, H. Kagoshima, E. Schijlen, N. Tajeshwar, B. Catarino, A. J. Hetherington, A. Saltykova, C. Bonnot, H. Breuninger, A. Symeonidi, G. V. Radhakrishnan, F. Van Nieuwerburgh, D. Deforce, C. Chang, K. G. Karol, R. Hedrich, P. Ulvskov, G. Glöckner, C. F. Delwiche, J. Petrášek, Y. Van de Peer, J. Friml, M. Beilby, L. Dolan, Y. Kohara, S. Sugano, A. Fujiyama, P.-M. Delaux, M. Quint, G. Theißen, M. Hagemann, J. Harholt, C. Dunand, S. Zachgo, J. Langdale, F. Maumus, D. Van Der Straeten, S. B. Gould and S. A. Rensing. 2018. The Chara Genome: Secondary Complexity and Implications for Plant Terrestrialization. Cell 174(2): 448-464.e424.