Massively convergent evolution for ribosomal protein gene content in plastid and mitochondrial genomes.

ABSTRACT: Plastid and mitochondrial genomes have undergone parallel evolution to encode the same functional set of genes. These encode conserved protein components of the electron transport chain in their respective bioenergetic membranes and genes for the ribosomes that express them. This highly convergent aspect of organelle genome evolution is partly explained by the redox regulation hypothesis, which predicts a separate plastid or mitochondrial location for genes encoding bioenergetic membrane proteins of either photosynthesis or respiration. Here we show that convergence in organelle genome evolution is far stronger than previously recognized, because the same set of genes for ribosomal proteins is independently retained by both plastid and mitochondrial genomes. A hitherto unrecognized selecti

SUBMITTER: Maier UG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3879969 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature