Chloroplasts and mitochondria evolved from free-living prokaryotic organisms that entered the eukaryotic cell through endosymbiosis. The gradual conversion from endosymbiont to organelle during the course of evolution was accompanied by the development of a communication system between the host and the endosymbiont, referred to as retrograde signaling or organelle-to-nucleus signaling. In higher plants, plastid-to-nucleus signaling involves multiple signaling pathways necessary to coordinate plastid function and cellular responses to developmental and environmental stimuli. Phylogenetic reconstructions using sequence information from evolutionarily diverse photosynthetic eukaryotes have begun to provide information about how retrograde signaling pathways were adopted and modified in different lineages over time. A tight communication system was likely a major facilitator of plants conquest of the land because it would have enabled the algal ancestors of land plants to better allocate their cellular resources in response to high light and desiccation, the major stressor for streptophyte algae in a terrestrial habitat. In this review, we aim to give an evolutionary perspective on plastid-to-nucleus signaling.

叶绿体和线粒体从自由生活的原核生物进化而来，它们通过内共生进入真核细胞。在进化过程中从内共生体逐渐转变为细胞器伴随着宿主和内共生体之间通信系统的发展，称为逆行信号或细胞器到细胞核的信号。在高等植物中，质体到细胞核的信号传导涉及协调质体功能和细胞对发育和环境刺激的反应所必需的多种信号通路。系统发育重建使用来自进化不同的光合真核生物的序列信息，已经开始提供有关逆行信号通路如何随着时间的推移在不同谱系中被采用和修改的信息。紧密的通讯系统可能是植物征服土地的主要促进因素，因为它可以使陆地植物的藻类祖先更好地分配细胞资源以应对强光和干燥，这是陆地栖息地中链藻的主要压力源. 在这篇综述中，我们旨在提供关于质体到细胞核信号的进化观点。