According to the chromalveolate hypothesis (Cavalier-Smith T. 1999. Principles of protein and lipid targeting in secondary symbiogenesis: euglenoid, dinoflagellate, and sporozoan plastid origins and the eukaryote family tree. J Eukaryot Microbiol 46:347-366), the four eukaryotic groups with chlorophyll c-containing plastids originate from a single photosynthetic ancestor, which acquired its pla...

Unlike many other photosynthetic dinoflagellates, whose plastids contain a characteristic carotenoid peridinin, members of the genus Lepidodinium are the only known dinoflagellate species possessing green alga-derived plastids. However, the precise origin of Lepidodinium plastids has hitherto remained uncertain. In this study, we completely sequenced the plastid genome of Lepidodinium chloropho...

Green fluorescent stroma filled tubules (stromules) emanating from the plastid surface were observed in transgenic plants containing plastid-localized green fluorescent protein (GFP). These transgenic tobacco plants were further investigated by epifluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CSLM) to identify developmental and/or cell type specific differences in the abundance and appea...

Chlorarachniophyte and cryptophyte algae have complex plastids that were acquired by the uptake of a green or red algal endosymbiont via secondary endosymbiosis. The plastid is surrounded by four membranes, and a relict nucleus, called the nucleomorph, remains in the periplastidal compartment that is the remnant cytoplasm of the endosymbiont. Thus, these two algae possess four different genomes...

BACKGROUND Diatoms are unicellular algae responsible for approximately 20% of global carbon fixation. Their evolution by secondary endocytobiosis resulted in a complex cellular structure and metabolism compared to algae with primary plastids. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The whole genome sequence of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has recently been completed. We identified and annotate...

The bleaching phenomenon in Euglena gracilis strain z offers a unique possibility for investigating the hereditary nature of plastids. Trea tment of Euglena cultures with streptomycin, elevated temperature, or irradiation with a mild close of U V light causes the permanent loss of the capacity to develop chloroplasts in the growing cultures. Early explanations of this phenomenon were that the b...

The marine photosynthetic dinoflagellates Dinophysis Ehrenb. species are obligate mixotrophs that require both light and the ciliate prey Myrionecta rubra (= Mesodinium rubrum) for long-term survival. Despite rapid progress on the study of Dinophysis using laboratory cultures, however, whether it has its own permanent plastids or kleptoplastids (i.e., stolen plastids from its ciliate prey) is n...

We sequenced the nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA coding region from 20 members of the Bangiophycidae and from two members of the Florideophycidae to gain insights into red algal evolution. A combined alignment of nuclear and plastid small subunit rDNA and a data set of Rubisco protein sequences were also studied to complement the understanding of bangiophyte phylogeny and to address red alg...