Novel genetic code and record-setting AT-richness in the highly reduced plastid genome of the holoparasitic plant Balanophora [Evolution]

Plastid genomes (plastomes) vary enormously in size and gene content among the many lineages of nonphotosynthetic plants, but key lineages remain unexplored. We therefore investigated plastome sequence and expression in the holoparasitic and morphologically bizarre Balanophoraceae. The two Balanophora plastomes examined are remarkable, exhibiting features rarely if ever seen before...

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - January 15, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Huei-Jiun Su, Todd J. Barkman, Weilong Hao, Samuel S. Jones, Julia Naumann, Elizabeth Skippington, Eric K. Wafula, Jer-Ming Hu, Jeffrey D. Palmer, Claude W. dePamphilis Tags: PNAS Plus Source Type: research