Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles

located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid,
contain a genome separate from that in the cell nucleus. The existence of chloroplast DNA was
[1] [2]
identified biochemically in 1959, and confirmed by electron microscopy in 1962. The discoveries
[3] [4]
that the chloroplast contains ribosomes and performs protein synthesis revealed that the
chloroplast is genetically semi-autonomous. The first complete chloroplast genome sequences were
published in 1986, Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) by Sugiura and colleagues and Marchantia
[5][6]
polymorpha (liverwort) by Ozeki et al. Since then, a great number of chloroplast DNAs from
various species have been sequenced.
Contents
● 1
● Molecular structure
○ 1.1
○ Inverted repeats
○
○ 1.2
○ Nucleoids
○
● 2
● Gene content and plastid gene expression
○ 2.1
○ Chloroplast genome reduction and gene transfer
○
○ 2.2
○ Proteins encoded by the chloroplast
○
○ 2.3
○ Protein synthesis
○
○ 2.4
○ RNA editing in plastids
○
● 3
● DNA replication
○ 3.1
○ Leading model of cpDNA replication
○
○ 3.2
○ Alternative model of replication
○
● 4
● Protein targeting and import
○ 4.1
○ Cytoplasmic translation and N-terminal transit sequences
○
○ 4.2
 ○ Phosphorylation, chaperones, and transport
○
○ 4.3
○ The translocon on the outer chloroplast membrane (TOC)
■ 4.3.1
■ Toc34 and 33
■
■ 4.3.2
■ Toc159
■
■ 4.3.3
■ Toc75
■
○ 4.4
○ The translocon on the inner chloroplast membrane (TIC)
■ 4.4.1
■ Tic20
■
■ 4.4.2
■ Tic214
■
■ 4.4.3
■ Tic100
■
■ 4.4.4
■ Tic56
■
● 5
● See also
●
● 6
● References
●

Molecular structure[edit]
 The 154 kb chloroplast DNA map of a model flowering plant (Arabidopsis thaliana: Brassicaceae) showing
genes and inverted repeats.

[7][8][9]
Chloroplast DNAs are circular, and are typically 120,000–170,000 base pairs long. They can
have a contour length of around 30–60 micrometers, and have a mass of about 80–130 million
[10]
daltons.
Most chloroplasts have their entire chloroplast genome combined into a single large ring, though
those of dinophyte algae are a notable exception—their genome is broken up into about forty small
[11] [11]
plasmids, each 2,000–10,000 base pairs long. Each minicircle contains one to three genes, but
blank plasmids, with no coding DNA, have also been found.
Chloroplast DNA has long been thought to have a circular structure, but some evidence suggests
[12]
that chloroplast DNA more commonly takes a linear shape. Over 95% of the chloroplast DNA in
[11]
corn chloroplasts has been observed to be in branched linear form rather than individual circles.

Inverted repeats[edit]
Many chloroplast DNAs contain two inverted repeats, which separate a long singl