title: Recent advances in the study of chloroplast gene expression and its evolution.
abstract: Chloroplasts are semiautonomous organelles which possess their own genome and gene expression system. However, extant chloroplasts contain only limited coding information, and are dependent on a large number of nucleus-encoded proteins. During plant evolution, chloroplasts have lost most of the prokaryotic DNA-binding proteins and transcription regulators that were present in the original endosymbiont. Thus, chloroplasts have a unique hybrid transcription system composed of the remaining prokaryotic components, such as a prokaryotic RNA polymerase as well as nucleus-encoded eukaryotic components. Recent proteomic and transcriptomic analyses have provided insights into chloroplast transcription systems and their evolution. Here, we review chloroplast-specific transcription systems, focusing on the multiple RNA polymerases, eukaryotic transcription regulators in chloroplasts, chloroplast promoters, and the dynamics of chloroplast nucleoids.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shiina
keywords: NEP; PEP; chloroplast; nucleoid; pTAC; transcription