Continuous labelling of callus with H-thymidine results in intermittent peaks of H-DNA per chloroplast, showing synchrony of division. The increase in H-DNA could be due to several replication rounds, and the drop to successive plastid divisions without intervening DNA synthesis. The level of DNA-binding proteins in the chloroplast parallels the peaks of plastidal DNA synthesis; such pro...

Carex sect. Confertiflorae s.l. is a medium-sized species group (ca. 40 species) with its center of diversity in E Asia (China and Japan). According to morphological traits, the section has been proposed split into two sections (sects. sensu Ohwi Molliculae Ohwi) up five different ones s.s., Molliculae, Dispalatae Ohwi, Ischnostachyae Alliiformes Akiyama). Recent phylogenetic reconstructions sh...

Plastid genomes show an impressive array of sizes and compactnesses, but the forces responsible for this variation are unknown. It has been argued that species with small effective genetic population sizes are less efficient at purging excess DNA from their genomes than those with large effective population sizes. If true, one may expect the primary mode of plastid inheritance to influence plas...

Retrograde signalling from the plastid to the nucleus, also known as plastid signalling, plays a key role in coordinating nuclear gene expression with the functional state of plastids. Inhibitors that cause plastid dysfunction have been suggested to generate specific plastid signals related to their modes of action. However, the molecules involved in plastid signalling remain to be identified. ...

Typha lepechinii, a new species from European Russia, is described. In terms of the external morphology, it similar to T. shuttleworthii but differs latter by shape female inflorescence, wider leaf blades and geographical distribution. Like shuttleworthii, lepechinii clearly distinct all other cattails sect. Ebracteolatae due its short male inflorescence that 2–4 times shorter than contiguous i...

presence of antibiotic resistance markers has always been considered as one of the main safety concerns in transgenic plants and their derived products. elimination of antibiotic selectable markers from transgenics is a major hurdle for finding efficient and safe candidates. herbicide tolerance genes might be attractive alternatives. in this study, a variant form of the 5-enoylpyruvyl shikimate...

Proteomics of chloroplast ribosomes in spinach and Chlamydomonas revealed unique protein composition and structures of plastid ribosomes. These studies have suggested the presence of some ribosomal proteins unique to plastid ribosomes which may be involved in plastid-unique translation regulation. Considering the strong background of genetic analysis and molecular biology in Arabidopsis, the in...

Red algae have the most gene-rich plastid genomes known, but despite their evolutionary importance these genomes remain poorly sampled. Here we characterize three complete and one partial plastid genome from a diverse range of florideophytes. By unifying annotations across all available red algal plastid genomes we show they all share a highly compact and slowly-evolving architecture and unique...

Plastids and mitochondria have many protein complexes that include subunits encoded by organelle and nuclear genomes. In animal cells, compensatory evolution between mitochondrial and nuclear-encoded subunits was identified and the high mitochondrial mutation rates were hypothesized to drive compensatory evolution in nuclear genomes. In plant cells, compensatory evolution between plastid and nu...