“…ChR sequences were also found in the other three classes of the “core” chlorophytes, i.e., Chlorodendrophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae and Ulvophyceae, in Pedinomonas minor (class Pedinophyceae), and in the three classes of the polyphyletic group known as “prasinophytes” (Mamiellophyceae, Nephroselmidophyceae and Pyramimonadophyceae; Klapoetke et al, 2014 ; Rozenberg et al, 2020 ). ChR homologs have also been found in the several representatives of the phylum Streptophyta: the flagellate alga Mesostigma viride (Govorunova et al, 2011 ), included in Streptophyta as an early diverging lineage, the filamentous alga Klebsormidium nitens (Klebsormidiophyceae; Awasthi et al, 2020 ; Tashiro et al, 2021 ) and thallus-forming alga Coleochaete irregularis (Coleochaetophyceae; Rozenberg et al, 2020 ), the latter of which is considered as the closest relative of land plants (Leliaert et al, 2012 ). However, the sequenced genomes of land plants do not seem to encode ChRs (nor rhodopsins of any kind).…”