Environmental stress increases the entry of cytoplasmic organellar DNA into the nucleus in plants.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondria and chloroplasts (photosynthetic members of the plastid family of cytoplasmic organelles) in eukaryotic cells originated more than a billion years ago when an ancestor of the nucleated cell engulfed two different prokaryotes in separate sequential events. Extant cytoplasmic organellar genomes contain very few genes compared with their candidate free-living ancestors, as most have functionally relocated to the nucleus. The first step in functional relocation involves the integration of inactive DNA fragments into nuclear chromosomes, and this process continues at high frequency with attendant genetic, genomic, and evolutionary consequences. Using two different transplastomic tobacco lines, we show that DNA migration from chloroplasts to the nucleus is markedly increased by mild

SUBMITTER: Wang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3289323 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature