Abstract
Relatively few chloroplast (ct) or mitochondrial (mt) proteins are encoded and synthesized within the organelles, the majority being made on cytoplasmic ribosomes from messenger RNAs transcribed from nuclear genes1,2. How this interaction of genetic systems evolved is poorly understood. Whether the chloroplast or mitochondrial specific genes now residing in the nucleus arose de novo, or by genetic exchange between the nucleus and a symbiotic autonomous prokaryote, is an intriguing unanswered question, although that such genetic exchange is possible is strongly suggested by recent reports of homology between maize mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes3 and the presence of mitochondrial sequences in yeast nuclei4. We now present evidence that the spinach nucleus contains integrated sequences that are homologous to ctDNA sequences and that these sequences are incorporated at specific sites within the genome. The experiments also show a region of homology between ctDNA and mtDNA.
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Timmis, J., Scott, N. Sequence homology between spinach nuclear and chloroplast genomes. Nature 305, 65–67 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305065a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/305065a0
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