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Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2003; 5(4): 350-358
DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-42710
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Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Evolution of Protein Targeting into “Complex” Plastids: The “Secretory Transport Hypothesis”

O. Kilian 1 , P. G. Kroth 1
  • 1Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
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Publication History

Publication Date:
02 October 2003 (online)

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Abstract

In algae different types of plastids are known, which vary in pigment content and ultrastructure, providing an opportunity to study their evolutionary origin. One interesting feature is the number of envelope membranes surrounding the plastids. Red algae, green algae and glaucophytes have plastids with two membranes. They are thought to originate from a primary endocytobiosis event, a process in which a prokaryotic cyanobacterium was engulfed by a eukaryotic host cell and transformed into a plastid. Several other algal groups, like euglenophytes and heterokont algae (diatoms, brown algae, etc.), have plastids with three or four surrounding membranes, respectively, probably reflecting the evolution of these organisms by so-called secondary endocytobiosis, which is the uptake of a eukaryotic alga by a eukaryotic host cell. A prerequisite for the successful establishment of primary or secondary endocytobiosis must be the development of suitable protein targeting machineries to allow the transport of nucleus-encoded plastid proteins across the various plastid envelope membranes. Here, we discuss the possible evolution of such protein transport systems. We propose that the secretory system of the respective host cell might have been the essential tool to establish protein transport into primary as well as into secondary plastids.

Key words

Protein transport - chloroplast - secondary endocytobiosis.

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P. G. Kroth

Universität Konstanz
Fachbereich Biologie

Postfach M611

78457 Konstanz

Germany

Email: peter.kroth@uni-konstanz.de

Section Editor: G. Thiel

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