Accelerated evolution of functional plastid rRNA and elongation factor genes due to reduced protein synthetic load after the loss of photosynthesis in the chlorophyte alga Polytoma.

Abstract excerpt

Polytoma obtusum and Polytoma uvella are members of a clade of nonphotosynthetic chlorophyte algae closely related to Chlamydomonas humicola and other photosynthetic members of the Chlamydomonadaceae. Descended from a nonphotosynthetic mutant, these obligate heterotrophs retain a plastid (leucoplast) with a functional protein synthetic system, and a plastid genome (lpDNA) with functional genes encoding proteins...

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