Chloroplasts are the metabolically active, semi-autonomous organelles found in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Their main function is to carry out the photosynthesis process involving a conversion of light energy into the energy of chemical bonds used for the synthesis of organic compounds. The Chloroplasts’ proteome consists of several thousand proteins that, besides photosynthesis, participate in the biosynthesis of fatty acids, amino acids, hormones, vitamins, nucleotides and secondary metabolites. Most of the chloroplast proteins are nuclear-encoded. During the course of evolution, many genes of the ancestral chloroplasts have been transferred from the chloroplast genome into the cell nucleus. However, these proteins which are essential for the photosynthesis have been retained in the chloroplast genome. This review aims to provide a relatively comprehensive summary of the knowledge in the field of the chloroplast genome arrangement and the chloroplast genes expression process based on a widely used model in plant genetic research, namely Arabidopsis thaliana.

叶绿体是在植物，藻类和蓝细菌中发现的具有代谢活性的半自主细胞器。它们的主要功能是进行光合作用，包括将光能转换为用于合成有机化合物的化学键能。叶绿体的蛋白质组由数千种蛋白质组成，除光合作用外，还参与脂肪酸，氨基酸，激素，维生素，核苷酸和次生代谢产物的生物合成。大多数叶绿体蛋白是核编码的。在进化过程中，祖先叶绿体的许多基因已从叶绿体基因组转移到细胞核中。但是，这些对光合作用至关重要的蛋白质已保留在叶绿体基因组中。拟南芥。