Biology 1002B Lecture Notes - Horizontal Gene Transfer, Oxygen-Evolving Complex, Vaucheria
Document Summary
Lecture 22: the elysia/vaucheria system: recall that the surprising ability of the solar slug elysia to maintain functional chloroplasts stolen while feeding on vaucheria algal cells (kleptoplasty) is an unsolved mystery in science. One possibility is that genes required for plastid maintenance have undergone evolutionary lateral gene transfer from the nucleus of the algae to the nucleus of the slug. Overall, you should be able to i) identify the various types of data shown by this paper; ii) explain how these data were obtained; and iii) conclude whether each type of data does, or does not, support the hypothesis. Photosynthetic function of chloroplast rely on enzymes, protein complexes, cofactors (chlorophyll, iron) Extracted chloroplast can only make its own reduced carbon and oxygen. Extracted chloroplast"s entropy gradually increases and function. Lack access to other important sources of nutrients. Unable to import proteins made in plant"s cytosol in extracted chloroplast also account for decline: lateral gene transfer.