Table 1

Plastid genome features compared between non-photosynthetic plastids and photosynthetic relatives

Size (kb)

% non-coding DNA (including introns)

Mean intergenic distance (bp)

No. of genes (proteins & rRNAs)

No. of tRNAs

Large repeat

Accession No.

Trebouxiophytes

Helicosporidium sp.

37.5

5.1

36

29

25

0

[DQ398104]

Prototheca wickerhammii

*54.1

21.4

121

-

-

-

[AJ245645, AJ236874]

Chlorella vulgaris

150.6

36.0

302

176

33

0

[NC001865]

Angiosperms

Epifagus virginiana

70.0

42.1

135

32

21

2 inverted

[NC001568]

Nicotiana tabacum

155.9

42.5

299

109

37

2 inverted

[NC001879]

Euglenids

Euglena longa

73.3

32.0

135

56

28

3 tandem

[NC002652]

Euglena gracilis

143.2

50.9

118

88

40

3 tandem

[NC001603]

Containing secondarily acquired red algal plastids

Plasmodium falciparum

34.7

4.7

24

34

34

2 inverted

[X95275, X95276]

Toxoplasma gondii

35.0

5.9

28

32

33

2 inverted

[NC001799]

Eimeria tenella

34.8

4.9

26

32

33

2 inverted

[NC004823]

Theileria parva

39.6

16.7

95

46

25

0

[AAGK01000009]

Odontella sinensis

119.7

15.6

107

146

29

2 inverted

[NC001713]

* the Prototheca genome is unfinished and its size is estimated from a restriction map [17], while the percentage non-coding DNA and mean intergenic distance were calculated from available sequences, constituting about half the genome.

de Koning and Keeling BMC Biology 2006 4:12   doi:10.1186/1741-7007-4-12