Evolution of the jasmonate ligands and their biosynthetic pathways

center dot Different plant species employ different jasmonates to activate a conserved signalling pathway in land plants, where (+)-7-iso-JA-Ile (JA-Ile) is the ligand for the COI1/JAZ receptor in angiosperms and dn-cis-OPDA, dn-iso-OPDA and Delta(4)-dn-iso-OPDA act as ligands in Marchantia polymorpha. In addition, some jasmonates play a COI1-independent role. center dot To understand the distribution of bioactive jasmonates in the green lineage and how their biosynthetic pathways evolved, we performed phylogenetic analyses and systematic jasmonates profiling in representative species from different lineages. center dot We found that both OPDA and dn-OPDA are ubiquitous in all tested land plants and present also in charophyte algae, underscoring their importance as ancestral signalling molecules. By contrast, JA-Ile biosynthesis emerged within lycophytes coincident with the evolutionary appearance of JAR1 function. center dot We identified that the OPR3-independent JA biosynthesis pathway is ancient and predates the evolutionary appearance of the OPR3-dependent pathway. Moreover, we identified a negative correlation between dn-iso-OPDA and JA-Ile in land plants, which supports that in bryophytes and lycophytes dn-iso-OPDA represents the analogous hormone to JA-Ile in other vascular plants.