Apicomplexan-like parasites originated several times independently and many of them contain cryptic plastid organelles, which demonstrate that the parasites evolved from photosynthetic algae.

An in silico reconstruction of a chloroplast that existed hundreds of millions of years ago casts new insights in the evolutionary processes, endosymbioses and chimerism events that shape the origin of plastids.

The newly opened genome of a kleptoplastic mollusk, Plakobranchus ocellatus, indicated that sequestered plastids retain their activity within the animal cell without horizontal algal gene transfer to the animal nucleus.

Analysis of chromerid algal genomes reveals how apicomplexans have evolved from free-living algae into successful eukaryotic parasites via massive losses and re-inventing functional roles of genes.

Combined cutting-edge technologies discovered a pair of carboxylate transporters that appears evolutionarily different among novel transporters and that is essential for parasite physiology.

Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast SufS is required for both iron-sulfur synthesis and tRNA modification by MnmA, a novel paradigm that is likely to apply to other plastid-containing organisms.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) analysis in polyextremophile red algae (Cyanidiales) provides explanations for the nonexistence of cumulative effects and eukaryotic pangenomes, and highlights differences between HGT and native genes.

Successful stable transformation of the dinoflagellate chloroplast genome.

A combination of chloroplast transformation with nuclear transformation and large-scale metabolic screening of supertransformed plant lines has enabled an entire biochemical pathway to be transferred from a medicinal plant to a high-biomass crop.

Carotenoids are not just required as core components for plastid biogenesis, they can be cleaved into an apocarotenoid signal that regulates etioplast and chloroplast development during extended periods of darkness.