Genome-based reconstruction of the protein import machinery in the secondary plastid of a chlorarachniophyte alga.

ABSTRACT: Most plastid proteins are encoded by their nuclear genomes and need to be targeted across multiple envelope membranes. In vascular plants, the translocons at the outer and inner envelope membranes of chloroplasts (TOC and TIC, respectively) facilitate transport across the two plastid membranes. In contrast, several algal groups harbor more complex plastids, the so-called secondary plastids, which are surrounded by three or four membranes, but the plastid protein import machinery (in particular, how proteins cross the membrane corresponding to the secondary endosymbiont plasma membrane) remains unexplored in many of these algae. To reconstruct the putative protein import machinery of a secondary plastid, we used the chlorarachniophyte alga Bigelowiella natans, whose plastid is bounded by fo

SUBMITTER: Hirakawa Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3294442 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature