REU: Taxonomy, Systematics and Evolution of Coleochaete

生物学家多年来一直推测现代陆地植物 一定是从水生绿色藻类进化而来。 像威斯康星州大学的琳达格雷厄姆博士这样的研究人员 已经提出了形态学和发育的证据， 轮藻四属，轮藻属，丽藻属，鞘藻属， Chaetosphaeridium与陆地植物最相似， 与高等植物最近的藻类亲戚。 在 格雷厄姆博士继续对其中两个属进行研究， 研究细胞核中DNA数量的新特征， 在变化的环境条件下测量细胞尺寸，以及 测试特定化合物（胼胝质和 孢粉素）常见于陆地植物中，但在大多数植物中很少或不存在 藻类。 来自这些研究的数据将证实或反驳 轮藻接近陆地植物的观点， 提供有助于识别物种的分类特征 属于鞘毛藻属和球毛藻属。

Biologists have speculated for years that modern land plants must have evolved from some group of aquatic green algae. Researchers like Dr. Linda Graham at the University of Wisconsin have presented morphological and developmental evidence that the four genera of charophyte algae, Chara, Nitella, Coleochaete, and Chaetosphaeridium, are most similar to land plants and are likely the closest living algal relatives of higher plants. In continuing studies of two of these genera, Dr. Graham is investigating new featurs of DNA quantity in cell nuclei, measuring cell size under varying environmental conditions, and testing for the occurrence of specialized compounds (callose and sporopollenin) common in land plants but rare to absent in most algae. Data from these studies will either corroborate or refute the idea that charophytes are close to land plants, and will also provide taxonomic characters aiding in the recognition of species within the genera Coleochaete and Chaetosphaeridium.