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Related Concept Videos

The Anatomy of Chloroplasts01:08

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Green algae and plants, including green stems and unripe fruit, harbor specialized organelles called chloroplasts to carry out photosynthesis. They coordinate both stages of photosynthesis — the light-dependent reactions and the light-independent reactions. The light-dependent reactions use sunlight to release oxygen and produce chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH, and the light-independent reactions capture CO2 and use ATP and NADPH to produce sugar.
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Proteins targeted to the inner chloroplast membrane, or plastid proteins, are transported by two general pathways: the stop-transfer and the re-insertion or post-import pathways. Most plastid proteins carry N-terminal transit sequences and internal import sequences targeting it to the specific chloroplast subcompartment. Proteins targeted by the stop-transfer pathway have internal hydrophobic sequences that inhibit their translocation into the stroma. As a result, these precursors are arrested...
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The present-day mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes have retained some of the characteristics of their ancestral prokaryotes and also have acquired new attributes during their evolution within eukaryotic cells. Like prokaryotic genomes, mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes neither bind with histone-like proteins nor show complex packaging into chromosome-like structures, as observed in eukaryotes. Unlike mitotic cell divisions observed in eukaryotic cells, mitochondria and chloroplasts...
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Chloroplast outer membrane proteins encoded by the nucleus are synthesized in the cytosol. Soon after synthesis, they bind cytosolic factors such as 14-3-3 protein and the Hsp70 chaperones that keep these precursors in an unfolded state until their translocation.
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The Evolutionary Constraints on Angiosperm Chloroplast Adaptation.

Elizabeth H J Robbins1, Steven Kelly1

  • 1Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Genome Biology and Evolution
|June 6, 2023
PubMed
Summary

Plastid gene evolution is constrained by location, amino acid composition, and mRNA abundance. These factors limit adaptive evolution and the overall evolvability of chloroplasts.

Keywords:
adaptive evolutionchloroplastevolutionary constraintevolvabilityphylogenomics

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Chloroplasts originated from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria ~1.5 billion years ago.
  • Despite genome reduction, plastid molecular evolution rates are low and genome organization is conserved.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate factors constraining molecular evolution rates of protein-coding genes in the plastid genome.
  • Determine how gene location, composition, and expression impact evolutionary rates.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenomic analysis of 773 angiosperm plastid genomes.
  • Statistical analysis of gene location, amino acid composition, mRNA abundance, and evolutionary rates.

Main Results:

  • Gene location relative to the replication origin influences evolutionary rate.
  • Amino acid composition constrains substitution tolerance and mutation landscape.
  • mRNA abundance is a key factor, suggesting transcription-DNA repair interactions.
  • Location, composition, and expression explain >50% of evolutionary rate variation.

Conclusions:

  • Plastid gene evolution is significantly limited by gene location, amino acid composition, and mRNA abundance.
  • These constraints substantially limit adaptive evolution capacity in plastid-encoded genes.
  • The evolvability of the chloroplast is ultimately constrained by these factors.