Transfer of DNA between different compartments of the plant cell, i.e., plastid, mitochondrion and nucleus, is a well-known phenomenon in plant evolution. Six directions of inter-compartmental DNA migration are possible in theory, however only four of them have been previously reported. These include frequent cases of mitochondrion and plastid to nucleus transfer, plastid to mitochondrion trans...

Most plastid transformation studies with tobacco, and all reports for other species (except tomato [G.D. Nugent, M. ten Have, A. van der Gulik, P.J. Dix, B.A. Uijtewaal, A.P. Mordhorst, Plastid transformants of tomato selected using mutations affecting ribosome structure. Plant Cell Rep. 24 (2005) 341–349]), have used biolistics for plastid transformation. However, nuclear transformation via bi...

Selective autophagy has been extensively studied in various organisms, but knowledge regarding its functions in plants, particularly in organelle turnover, is limited. We have recently discovered ATG8-INTERACTING PROTEIN1 (ATI1) from Arabidopsis thaliana and showed that following carbon starvation it is localized on endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated bodies that are subsequently transported ...

Scutellaria with about 360 species is one of the largest genera of Lamiaceae. The Iranian highlands accommodate about 40 Scutellaria spp., and is considered as one of the main centers of diversity of the genus. Here, we present a phylogenetic study for 44 species of Scutellaria especially from Iranian highlands, representing major subgeneric taxa, based on nuclear rib...

Plastids (the photosynthetic organelles of plants and algae) originated through endosymbiosis between a cyanobacterium and a eukaryote and subsequently spread to other eukaryotes by secondary endosymbioses between two eukaryotes. Mounting evidence favors a single origin for plastids of apicomplexans, cryptophytes, dinoflagellates, haptophytes, and heterokonts (together with their nonphotosynthe...

During the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, plastids, and mitochondria arose from an endosymbiotic process, which determined the presence of three genetic compartments into the incipient plant cell. After that, these three genetic materials from host and symbiont suffered several rearrangements, bringing on a complex interaction between nuclear and organellar gene products. Nowadays, plastids ...

Plastids evolved from cyanobacteria by endosymbiosis. During the course of evolution, the coding capacity of plastid genomes shrinks due to gene loss or transfer to the nucleus. In the green lineage, however, there were apparent gene gains including that of ycf1. Although its function is still debated, YCF1 has proven to be a useful marker for plastid evolution. YCF1 sequence and predicted stru...

Plastids in Nicotiana tabacum are normally transmitted to the progeny by the maternal parent only. However, low-frequency paternal plastid transmission has been reported in crosses involving parents with an alien cytoplasm. Our objective was to determine whether paternal plastids are transmitted in crosses between parents with the normal cytoplasm. The transplastomic father lines carried a spec...

The plastid psbA promoter of tobacco was used with the aim to construct plastid specific marker genes. Upon transfer to the tobacco nuclear genome the plastid promoter fragment appeared to specify a messenger RNA. Placed 5' to the bar or nptII coding sequences the level of expression is sufficient to obtain a selectable phenotype. The transcription start site in the nucleus is site specific and...