Plants evolved green algae called charophytes, and have many things in common with them. Both are eukaryotic autotrophs with chloroplasts. Their chloroplast structure and DNA is similar. Both charophytes and plants store energy as starch and use cellulose to form cell walls. There is also a definite genetic relationship between them, seen in the nuclear genes and ribosomal RNA. Taking into account these similarities, it is easy to see how some critical changes could have helped water-dwelling charophytes colonize land and evolve into plants.

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