The loss of photosynthetic pathways in the plastid and nuclear genomes of the non-photosynthetic mycoheterotrophic eudicot Monotropa hypopitys

Chloroplasts of most plants are responsible for photosynthesis and contain a conserved set of about 110 genes that encode components of housekeeping gene expression machinery and photosynthesis-related functions. Heterotrophic plants obtaining nutrients from other organisms and their plastid genomes represent model systems in which to study the effects of relaxed selective pressure on photosynthetic function. The most evident is a reduction in...