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Parallels in lignin biosynthesis: a study in Selaginella moellendorffii reveals convergence across 400 million years of evolution

Jing-Ke Weng, Jo Ann Banks and Clint Chappel

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A hallmark of vascular plants is the development of a complex water-conducting system, which is physically reinforced by the heterogeneous aromatic polymer lignin. Syringyl lignin, a major building block of lignin, is often thought to be uniquely characteristic of angiosperms; however, it was demonstrated over fifty years ago that that syringyl lignin is found in another group of plants, known as the lycophytes, the ancestors of which diverged from all the other vascular plant lineages 400 million years ago.1 To determine the biochemical basis for this common biosynthetic ability, we isolated and characterized cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases (P450s) from the lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii and compared them to the enzyme that is required for syringyl lignin synthesis in angiosperms. Our results showed that one of these P450s encodes an enzyme that is functionally analogous to but phylogenetically independent from its angiosperm counterpart. Here, we discuss the evolution of lignin biosynthesis in vascular plants and the role of Selaginella moellendorffii in plant comparative biology and genomics.

Authors

Jing-Ke Weng

Purdue University

Jo Ann Banks

Purdue University

Clint Chappel

Purdue University

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.