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Low CO2 Stress: Glaucocystophytes May Have Found a Unique Solution

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Symbioses and Stress

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 17))

Abstract

Glaucocystophytes maintain a special position among the archaeplastida: their cyanelles constitute the “missing link” in plastid evolution. They are considered to be the most ancient phototrophic eukaryotes known to date and can be assigned the status of “living fossils” (Löffelhardt and Bohnert, 2002). The plastids of the archaeplastida, i.e., the cyanelles, the rhodoplasts of red algae, and the chloroplasts of green algae and higher plants, are surrounded by two membranes and are thought to result from a single primary endosymbiotic event between a heterotrophic protist and a cyanobacterium. This postulated monophyly of the kingdom “Plantae” is supported by concatenated phylogenetic analyses of plastid and nuclear genes (Martin et al., 2002; Rodríguez-Ezpeleta et al., 2005) and by the demonstration of homologous protein import apparatus in cyanelles, rhodoplasts, and chloroplasts (Steiner and Löffelhardt, 2005). The denomination “cyanelle,” though incorrect, is kept for historical reasons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, University of Vienna, A-1030, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang Löffelhardt

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  1. Wolfgang Löffelhardt
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Correspondence to Wolfgang Löffelhardt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

  2. , Institute of Plant Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University, Holteigasse 6, Graz, 8010, Austria

    Martin Grube

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Löffelhardt, W. (2010). Low CO2 Stress: Glaucocystophytes May Have Found a Unique Solution. In: Seckbach, J., Grube, M. (eds) Symbioses and Stress. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9449-0_5

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