Evolution of organellar genomes

Current Opinion in Genetics and Development

Volumn 9, Issue 6, 1999, Pages 678-687

  Gray, Michael W ^a  

^a CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CHLOROPLAST DNA; MITOCHONDRIAL DNA;

CHLOROPLAST; EVOLUTION; GENE SEQUENCE; GENOME; MITOCHONDRION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; SYMBIOSIS;

DINOPHYCEAE; EUKARYOTA;

EID: 0032762209     PISSN: 0959437X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0959-437X(99)00030-1     Document Type: Review

References (65)

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12. •] hypotheses in its assumption of an aerobic selective pressure as the driving force for eukaryotic cell evolution.
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14. •] hypotheses with particular regard to the origin of mitochondria and hydrogenosomes. The authors argue that available relevant data do not support the notion that the selective pressure for the acquisition of mitochondria was hydrogen transfer rather than aerobic respiration. An alternative hypothesis for an aerobic origin of mitochondria (the 'ox-tox' hypothesis) is discussed briefly.
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52. Gray M.W., Lemieux C., Burger G., Lang B.F., Otis C., Plante I., Turmel M. Mitochondrial genome organization and evolution within the green algae and land plants. Møller I.M., Gardeström P., Glimelius K., Glaser E. Plant Mitochondria: From Gene to Function. 1998;1-8 Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
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61. •].
62. Zhang Z., Green B.R., Cavalier-Smith T. Single gene circles in dinoflagellate chloroplast genomes. Nature. 400:1999;155-159. This landmark paper documents the first molecular insights into the structure and coding function of the dinoflagellate chloroplast genome. In Heterocapsa triquetra and probably other peridinin-containing photosynthetic dinoflagellates, individual protein-coding and rRNA genes are located on minicircular (2-3 kbp) DNA molecules that feature characteristic conserved sequence motifs in the noncoding region. Seven photosynthetic genes but no translation genes (e.g. ribosomal protein genes) or tRNA genes were encountered in this study, raising the possibility that these genes may be supplied to the dinoflagellate chloroplast through the nucleocytoplasmic system. Although the chloroplast genes identified in this study are by far the most divergent in sequence in comparison to their homologs in other cpDNAs, phylogenetic analysis does indicate that dinoflagellate chloroplasts are, as expected, of secondary endosymbiotic origin.
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64. •] illustrate the utility of comparing in parallel large datasets of organellar sequence and gene-content information. In these two papers, rooted topologies are inferred from the concatenated and aligned sequences of proteins common to the chloroplast genomes under consideration as well as a cyanobacterial outgroup. Gene content is then mapped to these topologies in order to deduce gene losses that must have occurred at each node. Such studies provide an overview of gene flux during chloroplast genome evolution, and serve to identify ancient and more recent events of gene loss.
65. Tomitani A., Okada K., Miyashita H., Matthijs H.C.P., Ohno T., Tanaka A. Chlorophyll b and phycobilins in the common ancestor of cyanobacteria and chloroplasts. Nature. 400:1999;159-162. This paper nicely exemplifies the judicious use of nuclear and bacterial gene data in making inferences about organellar origin and evolution. The authors argue that understanding the origin of pigment diversity among chloroplasts is the key to revealing their evolutionary history.