Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Sience, Technology and Medicine, London, SW7 2AZ.
Protist. 1998 Feb;149(1):51-9. doi: 10.1016/S1434-4610(98)70009-4. Epub 2009 Jul 13.
Gene organization on three selected parts of the 35-kb plastid DNA of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum was compared with that of two other apicomplexans, namely Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella. This comparison included the characteristic inverted ribosomal RNA repeat. A short segment of DNA from Theileria annulata also was included in a separate comparison. Criteria such as the presence or absence of particular genes, their map positions and their sequences, were used to assess whether the apicomplexan plastid DNAs originated from a single origin (a unitary hypothesis for the entire phylum), or whether disparate multiple events were more likely. The results provisionally favour a single origin although clearly this comparison of the apicomplexan plDNAs is still fragmentary. Contrary to the tendency towards homogeneity, evidence was found that the coccidian plastids may have evolved a suppressor mechanism for UGA stop codons.
对疟原虫（Plasmodium falciparum）35kb 叶绿体 DNA 的三个选定部分的基因组织进行了比较，与另外两种顶复门生物，即刚地弓形虫（Toxoplasma gondii）和艾美耳球虫（Eimeria tenella）进行了比较。这种比较包括特征性的核糖体 RNA 反向重复。来自环形泰勒虫（Theileria annulata）的一小段 DNA 也在单独的比较中进行了比较。使用存在或不存在特定基因、它们的图谱位置和序列等标准来评估顶复门叶绿体 DNA 是否来自单一起源（整个门的单一假设），或者更有可能发生不同的多个事件。结果暂时倾向于单一起源，尽管显然这种对顶复门 plDNA 的比较仍然是零碎的。与趋同的倾向相反，发现证据表明，球虫类叶绿体可能已经进化出了一种抑制 UGA 终止密码子的机制。
