Evolution of Chloroplasts

The classical, text-book view is that chloroplasts in plants and algae arose from a single endosymbiotic event where an early eukaryote engulfed a photosynthetic cyanobacterium. This cyanobacterium became enslaved, giving rise to the three classes of chloroplast: those in green algae and plants, those in red algae and those in glaucophytes. By analysing the phylogenetic history of all retained, chloroplast genes and with comparison to cyanobacterial genomes, we present evidence showing that the history of the chloroplast may be more complex, and that more than one endosymbiosis event cannot be excluded.

RER Nisbet (Cambridge), M. Spencer (Liverpool), C. J. Howe (Cambridge), P.J. Lockhart (Massey).