The Chloroplast Genome Database (ChloroplastDB) is an interactive, web-based database for fully sequenced plastid genomes, containing genomic, protein, DNA and RNA sequences, gene locations, RNA-editing sites, putative protein families and alignments (http://chloroplast.cbio.psu.edu/). With recent technical advances, the rate of generating new organelle genomes has increased dramatically. Howev...

Along the green lineage (Chlorophyta and Streptophyta), mitochondria and chloroplast are mainly uniparentally transmitted and their evolution is thus clonal. The mode of organellar inheritance in their ancestor is less certain. The inability to make clear phylogenetic inference is partly due to a lack of information for deep branching organisms in this lineage. Here, we investigate organellar e...

BACKGROUND Crofton weed (Ageratina adenophora) is one of the most hazardous invasive plant species, which causes serious economic losses and environmental damages worldwide. However, the sequence resource and genome information of A. adenophora are rather limited, making phylogenetic identification and evolutionary studies very difficult. Here, we report the complete sequence of the A. adenopho...

All positive-strand RNA viruses induce the biogenesis of cytoplasmic membrane-bound virus factories for viral genome multiplication. We have previously demonstrated that upon plant potyvirus infection, the potyviral 6K2 integral membrane protein induces the formation of ER-derived replication vesicles that subsequently target chloroplasts for robust genome replication. Here, we report that foll...

A rapid and simple method for constructing restriction maps of large DNAs (100-200 kb) is presented. The utility of this method is illustrated by mapping the Sal I, Sac I, and Hpa I sites of the 152 kb Atriplex triangularis chloroplast genome, and the Sal I and Pvu II sites of the 155 kb Cucumis sativa chloroplast genome. These two chloroplast DNAs are very similar in organization; both feature...

Symplocarpus renifolius is a member of Araceae family that is extraordinarily diverse in appearance. Previous studies on chloroplast genomes in Araceae were focused on duckweeds (Lemnoideae) and root crops (Colocasia, commonly known as taro). Here, we determined the chloroplast genome of Symplocarpus renifolius and compared the factors, such as genes and inverted repeat (IR) junctions and perfo...

RNA transcription in Euglena gracilis chloroplasts has been characterized by hybridization of RNA from cells at different stages of chloroplast development to (3)H-labeled chloroplast DNA restriction endonuclease fragments. Chloroplast DNA was digested into five fragments of 53,000, 35,000, 25,000, 10,000, and 6900 base pairs with Pst I. The 53,000-base-pair DNA was further cleaved by BamHI dig...

Complete nucleotide sequencing shows that the plastid genome of Epifagus virginiana, a nonphotosynthetic parasitic flowering plant, lacks all genes for photosynthesis and chlororespiration found in chloroplast genomes of green plants. The 70,028-base-pair genome contains only 42 genes, at least 38 of which specify components of the gene-expression apparatus of the plastid. Moreover, all chlorop...

Haematococcus lacustris is an industrially relevant microalga that is used for the production of the carotenoid astaxanthin. Here, we report the use of PacBio long-read sequencing to assemble the chloroplast genome of H. lacustris strain UTEX:2505. At 1.35 Mb, this is the largest assembled chloroplast of any plant or alga known to date.

An in vitro system has been developed that allows the formation of translation initiation complexes with Euglena chloroplast 30S ribosomal subunits and natural mRNAs. For these experiments two regions of the Euglena chloroplast genome have been cloned behind the T7 transcriptional promoter and the corresponding RNAs synthesized in vitro. These mRNAs are capable of forming initiation complexes w...