A roadmap to developing unified streptophyte algal model systems

Over the last decade, collaborative efforts in plant evolutionary research have elucidated the phylogenetic relationships in the green plant lineage and provided insights into the emergence of land plants from a group of terrestrial and freshwater streptophyte algae. A foremost finding was that the genetic underpinnings of several key traits emerged much earlier than land plants - they were present in their streptophyte algal progenitors. Currently, the field is at a crossroads, transitioning from genomics-informed descriptions of streptophyte algae to a functional understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying their unique physiology, as well as to understanding their origin and evolution. Major progress has been made in the development of valuable genomic resources, new tools and new model systems in streptophyte algae. In this review, we highlight community-developed resources to study these closest algal relatives of land plants to gain insights into the evolution of land plant traits.