Molecular genetics of chloroplast ribosomal proteins.

Chloroplasts contain a complete translational apparatus which, in land plants, synthesizes the 80 or so polypeptides encoded by the organelle's own small genome. Recent molecular genetic studies have revealed much about the chloroplast ribosomal proteins (RPs). Some of these proteins are encoded by the chloroplast genome and others by the nuclear genome. Many of these genes have now been cloned and characterized, including some that have no prokaryotic homologues.