Chapter 21, Problem 39A

Summary Introduction

To describe:

Reason, why the liverworts are considered to be ancestors of other plants.

Introduction:

Liverwort is a group of non-vascular plant, which are similar to mosses. They are a type of bryophytes and reproduce through spore formation.

Explanation of Solution

In many land plants, there is a presence of mitochondrial group II introns. These sequences are totally absent in the all other eukaryotes and liverworts. This suggests that other organisms might have evolved from the liverworts.