A structural phylogenetic map for chloroplast photosynthesis

• Published in: Trends in plant science Vol. 16; no. 12; pp. 645 - 655
• Main Authors: Allen, John F., de Paula, Wilson B.M., Puthiyaveetil, Sujith, Nield, Jon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Chloroplasts - genetics; Chloroplasts - metabolism; Chromosome Mapping; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Chloroplast; Photosynthesis - genetics; Phylogeny; Plants - genetics; Plants - metabolism; Phylogeny; Plant sciences; Photosynthesis; Chloroplast
• ISSN: 1360-1385; 1878-4372
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2011.10.004

Chloroplasts are cytoplasmic organelles and the sites of photosynthesis in eukaryotic cells. Advances in structural biology and comparative genomics allow us to identify individual components of the photosynthetic apparatus precisely with respect to the subcellular location of their genes. Here we present outline maps of four energy-transducing thylakoid membranes. The maps for land plants and red and green algae distinguish protein subunits encoded in the nucleus from those encoded in the chloroplast. We find no defining structural feature that is common to all chloroplast gene products. Instead, conserved patterns of gene location are consistent with photosynthetic redox chemistry exerting gene regulatory control over its own rate-limiting steps. Chloroplast DNA carries genes whose expression is placed under this control.