Based on the article Why It Is Time to Look Beyond Algal Gen

Based on the article

Why It Is Time to Look Beyond Algal Genes in Photosynthetic Slugs
By: Cessa Rauch1, Jan de Vries 1, Sophie Rommel2, Laura E. Rose2, Christian Woehle3, Gregor Christa1, Elise M. Laetz4, Heike Wa ¨gele4, Aloysius G.M. Tielens5,6, Jo ¨rg Nickelsen7, Tobias Schumann8, Peter Jahns8, and Sven B. Gould1,*

Answer this:

--> Chloroplasts isolated from land plants are unstable and lose activity very quickly. What is the reason for this?

--> Describe one piece of evidence against lateral gene transfer from algae to sea slugs.

--> Continuing, It has been argued that the reason for detection of such a small amount of mRNA (the read count) of lateral gene transfer origin in the slug cells is due to only very few cells containing plastids. Do you agree with this argument? Why or why not?

--> The authors present several alternative reasons for the stability of plastids within the slug cells. Describe two of these reasons. (2 points)

Solution

1. Water has dissolved carbon dioxide which forms carbonic acid. As a result, the pH of isolated chloroplast gets disturbed. This interferes with the photosynthetic activity of the chloroplast.

2. genome sequencing and RNA-sequence analysis of slug DNA show that there is no lateral gene transfer from alga to slug. Kleptoplasty in slugs is dependent on nuclear genes.