Review: Light-harvesting antenna complexes in Physcomitrella patens: implications for evolutionary transition from green algae to land plants ($)

The ancestors of land plants were aquatic. Myriad changes accompanied the transition from aquatic to terrestrial life, including changes necessitated by the difference in light intensity and quality. Bryophytes, the earliest diverging land plants, have some characteristics that reveal how plants transitioned from aquatic algae. The moss Physcomitrella patens has become a model for the bryophytes, with a sequenced genome and many genetic tools available. Iwai and Yokono review the moss light-harvesting complex (Lhc) proteins, which are more diverse than those of the angiosperm Arabidopsis or the alga Chlamydomonas, and appear to facilitate additional photoprotection and electron transport pathways. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 10.1016/j.pbi.2017.04.002