The δ subunit of the chloroplast ATPase is plastid-encoded in the diatom Odontella sinensis

A 5.2 kb PstI restriction fragment containing the atpA gene cluster of the plastic genome of the centric diatom Odontella sinensis was cloned. Sequencing revealed a reading frame of 561 bp separating the genes atpF and atpA, which is preceded by a putative ribosome binding site. The third nucleotide of the codon for the last amino acid of atpF is the first nucleotide of the initiation codon of the 561 bp reading frame. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of this gene (ntpD) is colinear with δ subunits of different F₀F₁-ATPases and shows an overall sequence homology of up to 35% when compared with the sequences of cyanobacteria and Cyanophora paradoxa. The results are discussed in context with the evolution of chloroplasts of the chlorophyll-a + b and -a + c lineages, respectively.