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Molecular Biology pp 153–211Cite as

Chloroplast Signaling in Plants

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Part of the book series: The Plant Sciences ((PLANTSCI,volume 2))

Introduction

Photosynthesis is the conversion of solar energy into biological useful forms of energy. This process underpins plant growth, development, reproduction, crop yields, and life on earth. Photosynthesis and a considerable amount of nonphotosynthetic metabolism are performed by chloroplasts. Chloroplasts evolved from an endosymbiosis between the cyanobacterial progenitor of modern chloroplasts and a heterotrophic eukaryote that had already acquired mitochondria from a previous endosymbiosis with a proteobacterium. As endosymbiosis was established, many of the cyanobacterial genes were either lost or transferred to the nucleus. Indeed, most of the approximately 3,000 chloroplast proteins of plants are encoded by nuclear genes. Nonetheless, the chloroplasts of plants do retain relatively small genomes that encode less than 100 proteins. Many of these chloroplast genes contribute to either the expression of the chloroplast genome or photosynthesis. To cope with this separation of...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, S206 Plant Biology Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Robert M. Larkin

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  1. Robert M. Larkin
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Correspondence to Robert M. Larkin .

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  1. Development and Cell Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Stephen H. Howell

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Larkin, R.M. (2014). Chloroplast Signaling in Plants. In: Howell, S. (eds) Molecular Biology. The Plant Sciences, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7570-5_10

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