The history of our understanding of chloroplasts is closely tied to the history of our understanding of genetics as a whole. Chloroplasts evolved from photosynthetic bacteria living inside the primitive ancestors of plant cells, and in many ways, chloroplasts still resemble bacteria: they carry their own DNA and possess some of their original bacterial genes. Researchers have found, however, that most ‘chloroplast’ genes are no longer inside chloroplasts - during evolution, thousands of genes moved from chloroplast DNA to DNA in the cell nucleus. Now biologists are piecing together how and why this natural genetic engineering occurred.

If you're thinking about applying to study biology at University, this will extend your knowledge and bring you further up to date with some contemporary ideas in the field. 

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