叶绿体基因组研究进展

Progress in Chloroplast Genome Analysis

作为植物细胞器的重要组成部分和光合作用的器官,叶绿体在生物进化的漫长历史中发挥了重要作用.伴随着生物技术的深入发展,人们发现叶绿体基因组结构和序列的信息在揭示物种起源、进化演变及其不同物种之间的亲缘关系等方面具有重要价值.与此同时,比核转化具有明显优势的叶绿体转化技术在遗传改良、生物制剂的生产等方面显示出巨大潜力,而叶绿体基因组结构和序列分析则是叶绿体转化的基石.基于叶绿体的这些重要作用,收集整理了有关的资料,从几个方面归纳了本领域最近的研究进展,希望能使读者对迅速发展的叶绿体基因组研究有更全面的了解,以及对叶绿体基因组在物种的进化、遗传、系统发育关系等方面的作用有更深刻的认识,同时也希望对叶绿体转化技术的研究和广泛应用产生积极作用.

Being organelles present in higher plants and algae, and containing the entire machinery for the process of photosynthesis and their own genetic system, chloroplasts have played important roles in plant evolution. With the help of molecular approaches, the structure and sequences of chloroplast genomes have been studied to a large extent. The valuable chloroplast genomic information has been utilized in investigating plant evolution, diversity and phylogenetic relationships between different species. At the same time, chloroplast genome sequences are the essential information paving the road for successful chloroplast genetic engineering, which has shown considerable advantages compared with nuclear transformation and demonstrated its great potential in genetic improvement and the production of biopharmaceuticals. The latest developments in chloroplast genome analysis are reviewed, providing readers with insight into the fast growing field and facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the evolution, genetics and phylogenetic relationships among plants. It is also hoped to promote the further development of chloroplast technology and the commercial application of chloroplast transformation.