Transcription from modified chloroplast genes has been studied in vitro, but only with the recently developed ability to stably introduce foreign DNA into Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast chromosomes in situ has it become possible to do so in vivo. Cloned chloroplast DNA sequences, into which had been inserted chimeric genes composed of the GUS coding sequence reporter under transcriptiona...

Despite the significance of the relationships between embryophytes and their charophyte algal ancestors in deciphering the origin and evolutionary success of land plants, few chloroplast genomes of the charophyte algae have been reconstructed to date. Here, we present new data for three chloroplast genomes of the freshwater charophytes Klebsormidium flaccidum (Klebsormidiophyceae), Mesotaenium ...

Chloroplast-encoded genes, like nucleus-encoded genes, exhibit circadian expression. How the circadian clock exerts its control over chloroplast gene expression, however, is poorly understood. To facilitate the study of chloroplast circadian gene expression, we developed a codon-optimized firefly luciferase gene for the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a real-time bioluminescence rep...

Chloroplast division in plant cells is orchestrated by a complex macromolecular machine with components positioned on both the inner and outer envelope surfaces. The only plastid division proteins identified to date are of endosymbiotic origin and are localized inside the organelle. Employing positional cloning methods in Arabidopsis in conjunction with a novel strategy for pinpointing the muta...

Organelle movement is essential for efficient cellular function in eukaryotes. Chloroplast photorelocation movement is important for plant survival as well as for efficient photosynthesis. Chloroplast movement generally is actin dependent and mediated by blue light receptor phototropins. In Arabidopsis thaliana, phototropins mediate chloroplast movement by regulating short actin filaments on ch...

Maternally inherited mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes based Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) variations were examined for their contribution to diversity of rice genome. Population structure and diversity analysis based on mitochondria and chloroplast inherited genome has been studied less as compared to nuclear genome inheritance. The present study was designed to evaluate the population stru...

Chloroplast RNA metabolism is mediated by a multitude of nuclear encoded factors, many of which are highly specific for individual RNA processing events. In addition, a family of chloroplast ribonucleoproteins (cpRNPs) has been suspected to regulate larger sets of chloroplast transcripts. This together with their propensity for posttranslational modifications in response to external cues sugges...

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (P. ginseng) is an important medicinal plant and is often used in traditional Chinese medicine. With next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, we determined the complete chloroplast genome sequences for four Chinese P. ginseng strains, which are Damaya (DMY), Ermaya (EMY), Gaolishen (GLS), and Yeshanshen (YSS). The total chloroplast genome sequence length for DMY, EM...

Chloroplasts play an essential role in plant growth and development through manipulating photosynthesis and the production of hormones and metabolites. Although many genes or regulators involved in chloroplast biogenesis and development have been isolated and characterized, identification of novel components is still lacking. We isolated a rice (Oryza sativa) mutant, termed albino leaf 2 (al2),...

We describe here the diversity of chloroplast proteins required for embryo development in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Interfering with certain chloroplast functions has long been known to result in embryo lethality. What has not been reported before is a comprehensive screen for embryo-defective (emb) mutants altered in chloroplast proteins. From a collection of transposon and T-DNA ins...