Abstract
Most plants including angiosperms can synthesise chlorophyll (Chl) in darkness as well as in light albeit at a lower rate [1]. For this, they require a light-independent reductase to catalyse the conversion of protochlorophyllide (Pchl(ide)) to chlorophyllide (Chl(ide)). Genes coding for individual sub-units of a such an enzyme have been identified in purple bacteria (bch L,bch N and bch B) and a wide variety of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms ranging from cyanobacteria to gymnosperms (chl L, chl N and chl B).However they have not been found in angiosperms. This could be a consequence of sequence divergence following gene transfer from the chloroplast to the nucleus. Alternatively, it might reflect gene deletion during evolution.
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References
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Walmsley, J., Adamson, H., Wright, M., Wrench, P. (1999). Can Psilotum and/or Gnetum Synthesise Chlorophyll in Darkness?. In: Argyroudi-Akoyunoglou, J.H., Senger, H. (eds) The Chloroplast: From Molecular Biology to Biotechnology. NATO Science Series, vol 64. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4788-0_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4788-0_32
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