Organismal Biological Physiology Commons^™

Sea Slug—Algal Chloroplast Symbiosis: Towards An Integrated Understanding Of Long-Term Chloroplast Functioning In An Animal, Mary E. Rumpho

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Photosynthesis plays a fundamental role in understanding plant growth and productivity. The chloroplast, the organelle of photosynthesis, evolved following the endosymbiotic uptake of a cyanobacterium and massive gene transfer. As a result, the chloroplast is highly dependent upon nuclear genes to provide essential chloroplast proteins. A special form of endosymbiosis, kleptoplasty, has evolved in the marine mollusc Elysia chlorotica. This green, leaf-like animal carries out photosynthesis for its entire ten month life-cycle, as if it were a plant, by using chloroplasts it steals and retains from the alga Vaucheria litorea. It is highly likely that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has …