Origins of Plastids

Introductory remarks.- Chloroplast-retention in ciliated protozoa.- Green ciliates: principles of symbiosis formation between autotrophic and heterotrophic partners.- Insights into symbiotic acquisition of organelles from studies of the green hydra.- From prey via endosymbiont to plastid: comparative studies in dinoflagellates.- Membranes and plastid origins.- The evolution of algal chloroplasts.- Prochlorophyte evolution and the origin of chloroplasts: morphological and molecular evidence.- Comparison of sequences and organization of photosynthesis genes among the prochlorophyte Prochlorothrix hollandica, cyanobacteria, and chloroplasts.- Molecular phylogeny of oxygenic phototrophic cells and organelles from small-subunit ribosomal RNA sequences.- Molecular phylogeny of algal plastids: a brief review of host/endosymbiont genome development based on sequence comparisons.- Phylogenetic origin of the plastids.- Origin and evolution of plastids from chlorophyll-a+c-containing algae: suggested ancestral relationships to red and green algal plastids.- Probable evolutionary history of cryptomonad algae.- The origin, losses and gains of chloroplasts.- Plastid phylogeny and the problem of biased base composition.- Envoi.- Gene Glossary.- Author Index.- Taxonomic Index.- General Index.