“Chloroplast genes encoding subunits of the H +-ATPase complex of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are rearranged compared to higher plants: sequence of the atpE gene and location of the atpF and atpI genes.”

The purpose of this study was to locate the three remaining genes (atpE, atpF, and atpI) that encode for the ATPase subunits on the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplast genome. Once located, they noticed that the three genes, in addition to the rest of the subunit encoding genes, were scattered around the genome. This result was uniquely different than what they have found with most non-algal plant life, where the corresponding genes were found within a few dozen bp of one another. In addition, even photosynthesizing cyanobacterial species exhibited some form of “ordered” placement in their ATPase encoding genes, which makes this algal species’ gene placement particularly unique.

Reference:

Woessner J.P, Gillham N.W., and Boyton J.E. 1987. Chloroplast genes encoding subunits of the H +-ATPase complex of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are rearranged compared to higher plants: sequence of the atpE gene and location of the atpF and atpI genes. Plant Molecular Biology 8: 151-158.

(http://www.springerlink.com/content/k857175q760mh250/fulltext.pdf)