The chloroplast genome of bleached mutants of Euglena gracilis

Bleached mutants of Euglena gracilis, traditionally thought to be completely deprived of chloroplast DNA, have been shown to contain a defective chloroplast genome, present at a very low copy number, and preferentially retaining ribosomal RNA genes. We propose to call these mutants phi-, because of their resemblance with the rho- mutants of yeast.