Reference "Evolutionary variations in DNA sequences transferred from chloroplast genomes to mitochondrial genomes in the Gramineae"

Reference ID

4882

Title

Evolutionary variations in DNA sequences transferred from chloroplast genomes to mitochondrial genomes in the Gramineae

Source

Current genetics, 1994, vol. 26, pp. 512-518

Authors (5)

Watanabe-N	Nakazono-M
Kanno-A	Tsutsumi-N
Hirai-A

Abstract

The transfer of fragments of DNA from chloroplast genomes to mitochondrial
genomes is considered to be a general phenomenon in higher plants. In the
present study, Southern hybridization, together with amplification by PCR and
DNA sequencing techniques, was used to examine the regions homologous to
chloroplast rps19 in the mitochondrial genomes of several gramineous plants. In
all the mitochondrial DNAs from the gramineous plants examined, except for that
from wheat, the transferred fragments of chloroplast DNA were found to be
maintained and the same junctions of mitochondrion-specific and chloroplast-like
sequences were found at one terminus. This finding indicates that the transfer
of the chloroplast sequence occurred in the distant past during the evolution of
gramineous plants. Subsequent analysis revealed that the fragments had been
variously rearranged among species with respect to the other terminus.
Considering the current diversity of this one particular transferred fragment of
chloroplast DNA, we propose that chloroplast-derived DNA sequences that have
lost their original functions tend to be rearranged during evolution in
mitochondrial genomes.