title: A nuclear-encoded form II RuBisCO in dinoflagellates.
abstract: The chloroplasts of most dinoflagellates are unusual in that they are surrounded by three membranes and contain the carotenoid peridinin. The ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO) in dinoflagellate chloroplasts was found here to also be unusual. Unlike other eukaryotes, dinoflagellates containing peridinin use a form of RuBisCO (form II) previously found only in some species of proteobacteria. Furthermore, this RuBisCO is not encoded in the chloroplast DNA, as is the case in other organisms, but is encoded by the nuclear DNA. The unusual nature of this enzyme and location of its gene support the idea that dinoflagellate chloroplasts may have had a distinctive evolutionary origin.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétal, Université de Montréal, PQ, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morse
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salois
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Markovic
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hastings
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000032:analysis; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics*; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C016040:peridinin; D002338:Carotenoids; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase