Evidence for the Existence of a Pseudogene for the Large Subunit of Rubisco within the Chloroplast DNA of Norway Spruce (Picea Abies)

Many hundreds of genes are involved in the synthesis, maintenance and degradation of chloroplasts. Although quite a number of these genes are located in the chloroplast genome, by far the greater proportion is present in the nuclear genome. The sizes of chloroplast DNAs (cpDNA) were estimated from restriction enzyme mapping studies and the complete sequences of different cpDNAs from diverse plant lineages have been determined to date (Marchantia polymorpha [1], Nicotiana tabacum [2], Oryza saliva [3], Epifagus virginiana [4], Euglena gracilis [5], Pinus thunbergii [6], Porphyra purpurea [7], Odontella sinensis [8], Zea mays [9], Chlorella vulgaris [10]).