Abstract
Charophyte green algae (Streptophyta) include the closest relatives of land plants.
Recent phylogenetic analyses concluded that the sister group to land plants is the
Zygnematophyceae. Charophyte algae are important in exploring the origin and evolution
of land plants. Approximately 500 to 600 million years ago, the ancestors of
charophyte algae successfully colonized land and subsequently gave rise to land plants.
Charophyte algae have diverse but relatively simple body plans and have been used in
many areas of biological research. Recently, the genomes of the representative lineages of
charophyte algae have been sequenced and these genome data have opened doors for
studies that elucidate the evolution and function of genes in charophyte algae. This paper
introduces charophyte algae and briefly reviews recent morphological and genomic
studies on charophyte algae.
