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Kleptoplasty
Kleptoplasty or kleptoplastidy is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host. The word is derived from Kleptes (κλέπτης) which is Greek for thief. The algae is eaten normally and partially digested, leaving the plastid intact. The plastids are maintained within the host, temporarily continuing photosynthesis and benefiting the host.
The word kleptoplasty is derived from Ancient Greek κλέπτης (kléptēs), meaning 'thief', and πλαστός (plastós), originally meaning formed or moulded, and used in biology to mean a plastid.
Kleptoplasty is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host. The alga is eaten normally and partially digested, leaving the plastid intact. The plastids are maintained within the host, temporarily continuing photosynthesis and benefiting the host. The term was coined in 1990 to describe chloroplast symbiosis.
Kleptoplasty has been acquired in various independent clades of eukaryotes, namely single-celled protists of the SAR supergroup and the Euglenozoa phylum, and some marine invertebrate animals.
Some species of the foraminiferan genera Bulimina, Elphidium, Haynesina, Nonion, Nonionella, Nonionellina, Reophax, and Stainforthia sequester diatom chloroplasts.
The stability of transient plastids varies considerably across plastid-retaining species. In the dinoflagellates Gymnodinium spp. and Pfiesteria piscicida, kleptoplastids are photosynthetically active for only a few days, while kleptoplastids in Dinophysis spp., taken from cryptophytes, can be stable for 2 months. In other dinoflagellates, kleptoplasty has been hypothesized to represent either a mechanism permitting functional flexibility, or perhaps an early evolutionary stage in the permanent acquisition of chloroplasts.
Mesodinium rubrum is a ciliate that steals chloroplasts from the cryptomonad Geminigera cryophila. M. rubrum participates in additional endosymbiosis by transferring its plastids to its predators, the dinoflagellate planktons belonging to the genus Dinophysis.
Karyoklepty is a related process in which the nucleus of the prey cell is kept by the host as well. This was first described in 2007 in M. rubrum.
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Kleptoplasty AI simulator
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Kleptoplasty
Kleptoplasty or kleptoplastidy is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host. The word is derived from Kleptes (κλέπτης) which is Greek for thief. The algae is eaten normally and partially digested, leaving the plastid intact. The plastids are maintained within the host, temporarily continuing photosynthesis and benefiting the host.
The word kleptoplasty is derived from Ancient Greek κλέπτης (kléptēs), meaning 'thief', and πλαστός (plastós), originally meaning formed or moulded, and used in biology to mean a plastid.
Kleptoplasty is a process in symbiotic relationships whereby plastids, notably chloroplasts from algae, are sequestered by the host. The alga is eaten normally and partially digested, leaving the plastid intact. The plastids are maintained within the host, temporarily continuing photosynthesis and benefiting the host. The term was coined in 1990 to describe chloroplast symbiosis.
Kleptoplasty has been acquired in various independent clades of eukaryotes, namely single-celled protists of the SAR supergroup and the Euglenozoa phylum, and some marine invertebrate animals.
Some species of the foraminiferan genera Bulimina, Elphidium, Haynesina, Nonion, Nonionella, Nonionellina, Reophax, and Stainforthia sequester diatom chloroplasts.
The stability of transient plastids varies considerably across plastid-retaining species. In the dinoflagellates Gymnodinium spp. and Pfiesteria piscicida, kleptoplastids are photosynthetically active for only a few days, while kleptoplastids in Dinophysis spp., taken from cryptophytes, can be stable for 2 months. In other dinoflagellates, kleptoplasty has been hypothesized to represent either a mechanism permitting functional flexibility, or perhaps an early evolutionary stage in the permanent acquisition of chloroplasts.
Mesodinium rubrum is a ciliate that steals chloroplasts from the cryptomonad Geminigera cryophila. M. rubrum participates in additional endosymbiosis by transferring its plastids to its predators, the dinoflagellate planktons belonging to the genus Dinophysis.
Karyoklepty is a related process in which the nucleus of the prey cell is kept by the host as well. This was first described in 2007 in M. rubrum.