Plant Origins Flashcards
Endosymbiosis
Engulfing without digestion
Primary Endosymbiosis
- resulted in the retention of: Mitochondrion = Alpha Proteobacterium, and Plastid/chloroplast = Cyanobacterium
Plastids within the eukaryotic cell allowed for photoautotrophs (algae)
- Reduces requirement for phagocytosis
- Increases need for cellular water
Secondary Endosymbiosis occurred across:
various lineages of aquatic algae
Secondary Endosymbiosis
Subsequent uptake of a red and/or green alga by other non-photosynthetic eukaryotes gave rise to several aquatic algal lineages and phytoplankton
Chloroplasts
- utilize the energy from light to break H2O molecules into O2 and H+ ions
- H+ ions are used to generate ATP by pumping through an ATP synthase on the thylakoid membrane into the stroma
- An electron transport chain caused by the splitting of the water molecules allows for the reduction of NADP to NADPH
- The high energy compounds ATP and NADPH aid in the fixation of CO2 into polysaccharides through the Calvin Cycle starting with Rubisco in the stroma
Heterotrophic Plants – Alternative Nutrition
- Some plants have lost the ability to photosynthesize in favour of alternative nutrient acquisition strategies
- These are and represent <1% of all plant species – All ancestral lineages were photoautotrophs
Mycoheterotrophs
– obtain carbon source from fungal associations with other plants
Parasitic plants/heterotrophs
obtain carbon source directly from other plants
Plant Cell Walls
- Reduced requirement for phagocytosis allows for the development of cell walls
- quite porous and allows for nutrients and water to pass-through
Primary Plant Cell Walls
- Provide support and protection but allow for flexibility
- Rigidity is highly dependent on turgor pressure, which is dictated by the surrounding environment and maintained by vacuole
- Deposited outside of the plasma membrane
- Composition is largely the same among all plants
Cellulose
- The most abundantbiopolymer in the world/known universe
- Long, unbranched microfibrils made up of β1-4 glucose linkages
- major component of dietary fibre (hard to digest)
Osmotic Pressure
- Vacuoles have higher solute concentration and the osmotic flow of water occurs from outside the cell (lower solute concentrations) to into the vacuoles
- The turgidity of the vacuole pushes the plasma membrane outwards and this pushes against the cell wall
Turgid State
The ideal state for plant cells, helps maintain the structure of the plant and maintains osmotic balance
Effects of Osmotic Pressure
- Rapid and concerted movements of solutes can quickly divert water from the cell and force some cells to contract
- Pressure sensors or mechanosensors can activate ion channels that change the osmotic potential of the cell
- Actually causes an action potential similar to animal cells and can trigger coordinated events in nearby tissues or organs
Effects of Osmotic Pressure
- Rapid and concerted movements of solutes can quickly divert water from the cell and force some cells to contract
- Pressure sensors or mechanosensors can activate ion channels that change the osmotic potential of the cell
- Actually causes an action potential similar to animal cells and can trigger coordinated events in nearby tissues or organs
Multicellularity in Eukaryotic Algae
- True multicellularity involves the specialization of cells to perform different functions
- Allows for coordinated behaviour of different tissues to aid in the fitness of the organism as a whole
We know that all land plants are descended from the same clade of Eukaryotic Green Algae because:
- Multicellularity arose multiple times in algal lineages, completely separate from the animal/fungal ancestral lineage
- End products are similar but the processes are unique and can be used to distinguish evolutionary trends
All land plants display:
multicellularity
Plant Cell Multicellularity – Cell Division
- Critical importance to the multicellularity of Land Plants
- Land plant cell division progresses through the production of the Phragmoplast
- This arrangement of the microtubules allows for cell wall deposition between the two separated nuclei prior to the complete division of the cytoplasm
- Deposition of the cell wall materials also involves the fusion of vesicles from the ER and Golgi to form the new plasma membranes
Plasmodesmata
- are intercellular connections between plant cells
- These connections are formed cell division
- Secondary plasmodesmata can develop through the degradation of the cell wall but do not occur in all cells
- Analogous to the gap junctions seen in animal cells
- These connections allow for easier cell-to-cell transport of cytoplasmic contents
Passage of materials through the plasmodesmata is regulated by:
the ER within the cavity (desmotubule)
Defining Characteristics of Land Plants
- Are sessile
- Are photoautotrophic (vast majority)
- Have primary cell walls (largely composed of cellulose and hemicellulose)
- Are multicellular
- Have Cuticles
- Have Stomata for gas exchange
- Have an alternation of generations -> Diphasic life-cycle
True colonization began with
fungi, early embryophytes (~475mya), and then animals (arthropods first)
Vascular plants develop:
Around 425mya and proceed to dominate to the end of the Carboniferous (~300mya)
Tetrapods arise
~400mya, first to come on land ~360-380mya