Evolutionary History of Plant Metabolism

Tremendous chemical diversity is the hallmark of plants and is supported by highly complex biochemical machinery. Plantmetabolic enzymes originated and were transferred from eukaryotic and prokaryotic ancestors and further diversified by the unprecedented rates of gene duplication and functionalization experienced in land plants. Unlike microbes, which have frequent horizontal gene transfer events and multiple inputs of energy and organic carbon, land plants predominantly rely on organic carbon generated from CO2 and have experienced very few, if any, gene transfers during their recent evolutionary history. As such, plant metabolic networks have evolved in a stepwise manner and on existing networks under various evolutionary constraints. This review aims to take a broader view of plant metabolic evolution and lay a framework to further explore evolutionary mechanisms of the complex metabolic network. Understanding the underlying metabolic and genetic constraints is also an empirical prerequisite for rational engineering and redesigning of plant metabolic pathways.

Automated summary

Plants exhibit tremendous chemical diversity supported by complex biochemical machinery, with metabolic enzymes originating from eukaryotic and prokaryotic ancestors and experiencing high rates of gene duplication and functionalization in land plants. Plants primarily rely on organic carbon generated from CO2 and have undergone few to no gene transfers during their evolutionary history.