International Max Planck Research School for Genome Science

Project (Jan de Vries)

Comparative genomics and early plant evolution



A central question in evolutionary biology is how multicellularity evolved repeatedly from unicellular ancestors, giving rise to major lineages such as land plants (embryophytes)—the only organisms to have colonized terrestrial environments globally. The closest algal relatives of land plants, the Zygnematophyceae, are mostly unicellular or filamentous, offering a powerful model for understanding this transition. Research in my lab suggests that recurrent origins of multicellularity rely on an ancient genetic framework. We have recently expanded genomic resources for both unicellular and multicellular zygnematophytes, enabling direct comparisons between these forms. Our goal is to test whether unicellular and filamentous zygnematophytes share a conserved morphogenetic toolkit for multicellularity that parallels land plant development. Notably, cell division genes essential for embryophyte traits such as phragmoplast formation are co-expressed even in unicellular zygnematophytes. Using the organismal systems Mesotaenium endlicherianum, Zygnema circumcarinatum, and Physcomitrium patens, we will pursue three objectives: (1) build a time-course framework for cell division across these taxa; (2) identify morphogenetic cell division proteins by manipulating environmental cues and analyzing their regulatory feedback; and (3) probe conservation of division factors such as phragmoplast orienting kinases through cross-species complementation in Arabidopsis and cytoskeletal pull-down assays. Together, these efforts will illuminate how the dynamic deployment of ancient genes facilitated the rise of multicellularity in the ancestors of land plants.





Homepage Research Group

https://streptophytes.com/
https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/613776.html



Publications:

  • Bierenbroodspot MJ, Darienko T, de Vries S, Delwiche CF, Lorenz M, Ali Z, Irisarri I, Pröschold T, ⦿ de Vries J. Phylogenomics unveil a recent origin of morphological complexity in Coleochaetophyceae. Current Biology 35 (2025): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.046

  • Rieseberg TP, Dadras A, Darienko T, Post S, Herrfurth C, Fürst-Jansen JMR, Hohnhorst N, Petroll R, Rensing SA, Pröschold T, de Vries S, Irisarri I, Feussner I, ⦿ de Vries J. Time-resolved oxidative signal convergence across the algae–embryophyte divide. Nature Communications 16:1780 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56939-y

  • Feng X, Zheng J, Irisarri I, [45 co-authors] ⦿ de Vries J*, Yin Y*. Genomes of multicellular algal sisters to land plants illuminate signaling network evolution. Nature Genetics (2024). 56: 1018–1031. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01737-3

  • Bierenbroodspot MJ, Darienko T, de Vries S, Fürst-Jansen JMR, Buschmann H, Pröschold T, Irisarri I, ⦿ de Vries J. Phylogenomic insights into the first multicellular streptophyte. Current Biology 34 (2024):670-681.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.070

  • Dadras A, Fürst-Jansen JMR, Darienko T, Krone D, Scholz P, Sun S, Herrfurth C, Rieseberg TP, Irisarri I, Steinkamp R, Hansen M, Buschmann H, Valerius O, Braus GH, Hoecker U, Feussner I, Mutwil M, Ischebeck T, de Vries S, Lorenz M, ⦿ de Vries J. Environmental gradients reveal stress hubs predating plant terrestrialization. Nature Plants 9:1419-1438. (2023)

    Picture_jandevries
    Streptophyte phylogeny and the origin of land plants. We use systems biology to compare land plants to their closest relatives (orange) to infer the molecular biology of their shared ancestor (circular inset).
    modified from de Vries & Archibald (New Phytologist [2018] 217: 1428-1434)