biostudies-literatureZegers JMSEuropean Research CouncilDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)755https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12820192biostudies-literatureUnknown17(1)Zygnematophytes are the closest algal relatives of land plants. They hold key information to infer how the earliest land plants overcame the barrage of terrestrial stressors, the prime of which is osmotic stress. Here, we apply two osmotic stressors on a unicellular and a multicellular representative of zygnematophytes and study their responses over a 25-hour time course, generating 130, 60, and 30 transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic samples combined with photophysiology, sugar analysis, immunocytochemical glycoprotein analysis, and microscopy. Our data highlight a shared protein chassis that shows divergent responses with the same outcome: successful acclimation to osmotic challenges. We establish a model of how the algal sisters of land plants can overcome a prime stressor in the Nature communicationsSystems acclimation to osmotic stress in zygnematophyte cells.PMC12820192509535047852725528076711440231723Schmitt KZegers JMSClassen BDarienko TDorsch CAde Vries JPfeifer LKunz CFBraus GHValerius OfalseSystems acclimation to osmotic stress in zygnematophyte cells.Zygnematophytes are the closest algal relatives of land plants. They hold key information to infer how the earliest land plants overcame the barrage of terrestrial stressors, the prime of which is osmotic stress. Here, we apply two osmotic stressors on a unicellular and a multicellular representative of zygnematophytes and study their responses over a 25-hour time course, generating 130, 60, and 30 transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic samples combined with photophysiology, sugar analysis, immunocytochemical glycoprotein analysis, and microscopy. Our data highlight a shared protein chassis that shows divergent responses with the same outcome: successful acclimation to osmotic challenges. We establish a model of how the algal sisters of land plants can overcome a prime stressor in the 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z2026 Jan2026-06-14T05:04:48.738Z2026-06-14T03:08:38.797ZS-EPMC128201924154539110.1038/s41467-026-68329-z