Sequencing the mitochondrial genome of Lolium perenne cultivar Shandon
We aimed to sequence the complete mitochondrial genome of perennial ryegrass. In our project we were able to find all 33 known plant mitochondria protein-coding genes, three ribosomal RNA genes and 20 transfer RNA genes. However, plant mitochondrial genomes have a very complex nature and a very low degree of conservation. Thus a complete assembly of the perennial ryegrass mitochondrial genome until today was not possible. Nevertheless, based on our present data set we found already evidence for intracellular gene transfer events from the chloroplast genome to the mitochondria genome and possibly duplicated gene exons. We can estimate the size of the mitochondrial genome of perennial ryegrass cultivar Shandon to be around 565 kb.