Organelle Genetics

Mitochondria and chloroplasts are eukaryotic organelles that maintain their own genomes. The genes products of these genomes work in concert with those of the nuclear genome to ensure proper organelle metabolism and biogenesis.
This book explores the forces that have shaped the evolution of organelle genomes, and the expression of the genes encoded by them, in the time following their divergence from bacterial ancestors. Some striking examples of trends in organelle evolution are the general reduction in genome size and gene coding content observed in all lineages - leading to complete loss of DNA in some cases - and the unusual modes of gene expression that have emerged, such as the extensive and essential mRNA editing that occurs in plant mitochondria and chloroplasts. A main focus of this book is on the current techniques used to study the evolution of organelle genomes and gene expression.