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Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA have sequence homology with a chloroplast gene

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Summary

A PstI 7.7 kbp fragment from chloroplast (ct) DNA of spinach shows homology to an EcoRI 8.3 kbp fragment of mitochondrial (mt) DNA and in turn, both are homologous to a number of common regions of nuclear (n) DNA. The common area of homology between the chloroplast and mitochondrial fragments is between a KpnI 1.8 segment internal to the PstI sites in the ctDNA and an EcoRI/BamHI 2.9 kbp fragment at one end of the mitochondrial 8.3 kbp fragment. The KpnI 1.8 kbp ctDNA fragment is within a structural gene for the P700 chlorophyll a apoprotein. Further analysis of this KpnI 1.8 kbp fragment confined the homologous region in mtDNA to a ct 0.8 kbp HpaII fragment. These smaller pieces of the organellar genomes share homologies with nuclear DNA as well as displaying unique hybridization sites. The observations reported here demonstrate that there is a common or closely related sequence in all three genetic compartments of the cell.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Division of Horticultural Research, Box 350 GPO, 5001, Adelaide, South Australia

    Dara L. Whisson & N. Steele Scott

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  1. Dara L. Whisson
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  2. N. Steele Scott
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Whisson, D.L., Steele Scott, N. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA have sequence homology with a chloroplast gene. Plant Mol Biol 4, 267–273 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02418245

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02418245

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