Most plastid proteins are encoded by their nuclear genomes and need to be targeted across multiple envelope membranes. In vascular plants, the translocons at the outer and inner envelope membranes of chloroplasts (TOC and TIC, respectively) facilitate transport across the two plastid membranes. In contrast, several algal groups harbor more complex plastids, the so-called secondary plastids, whi...

Secondary endosymbiosis is the process that drives the spread of plastids (chloroplasts) from one eukaryote to another. The number of times that this has occurred and the kinds of cells involved are now becoming clear. Reconstructions of plastid history using molecular data suggest that secondary endosymbiosis is very rare and that perhaps as few as three endosymbioses have resulted in a large ...

The plastids of cryptophytes, haptophytes, and heterokontophytes (stramenopiles) (together once known as chromists) are surrounded by four membranes, reflecting the origin of these plastids through secondary endosymbiosis. They share this trait with apicomplexans, which are alveolates, the plastids of which have been suggested to stem from the same secondary symbiotic event and therefore form a...

Plastids (photosynthetic organelles of plants and algae) are known to have spread between eukaryotic lineages by secondary endosymbiosis, that is, by the uptake of a eukaryotic alga by another eukaryote. But the number of times this has taken place is controversial. This is particularly so in the case of eukaryotes with plastids derived from red algae, which are numerous and diverse. Despite th...

Relative to the large number of photosynthetic dinoflagellate species, only a select few possess proteinaceous, carotenoid-rich eyespots which have been demonstrated in other algae act phototactic responses. The proteins comprising different categories are positioned or near peridinin-containing plastid membranes composed primarily two galactolipids, mono- and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG D...

By synthesizing data from individual gene phylogenies, large concatenated gene trees, and other kinds of molecular, morphological, and biochemical markers, we begin to see the broad outlines of a global phylogenetic tree of eukaryotes. This tree is apparently composed of five large assemblages, or "supergroups." Plants and algae, or more generally eukaryotes with plastids (the photosynthetic or...

A microalgafrom Chlorarachniaceae was found in the shallow runoffs of south Tehran. Morphological and intracellular structures were studied which in accordance with the identification key (Hirakawa et al. 2011), it is found to be a new species for Iran called Amorphochlora amoebiformis (Ishida & Y. Hara) Ishida, Yabuki & S. Ota. This algahas been derived and ...

Cryptophytes are photosynthetic protists that have acquired their plastids through the secondary symbiotic uptake of a red alga. A remarkable feature of cryptophytes is that they maintain a reduced form of the red algal nucleus, the nucleomorph, between the second and third plastid membranes (periplastidial compartment; PC). The nucleomorph is thought to be a transition state in the evolution o...

Plastids are the organelles derived from a cyanobacterium through endosymbiosis. Unlike mitochondria, plastids are not found in all eukaryotes, but their evolution has an added layer of complexity since plastids have moved between eukaryotic lineages by secondary and tertiary endosymbiotic events. This complex history, together with the genetic integration between plastids and their host, has l...

The number and nature of endosymbioses involving red algal endosymbionts are debated. Gene phylogenies have become the most popular tool to untangle this issue, but they deliver conflicting results. As gene and lineage sampling has increased, so have both the number of conflicting trees and the number of suggestions in the literature for multiple tertiary, and even quaternary, symbioses that mi...