Comprehensive genome-wide classification reveals that many plant-specific transcription factors evolved in streptophyte algae

Genome Biol Evol.          online article

Plant genomes encode many lineage-specific, unique transcription factors. Expansion of such gene families has been previously found to coincide with the evolution of morphological complexity. Here, we find that many TAP families previously thought to be specific for land plants actually evolved in streptophyte (charophyte) algae; 26 out of 36 TAP family gains are inferred to have occurred in the common ancestor of the Streptophyta (uniting the land plants - Embryophyta - with their closest algal relatives).