Plastids are plant cell-specific organelles of endosymbiotic origin that contain their own genome, the so-called plastome. Its proper expression is essential for faithful chloroplast biogenesis during seedling development and for the establishment of photosynthetic and other biosynthetic functions in the organelle. The structural organisation, replication and expression of this plastid genome, thus, has been studied for many years, but many essential steps are still not understood. Especially, the structural and functional involvement of various regulatory proteins in these processes is still a matter of research. Studies from the last two decades demonstrated that a plethora of proteins act as specific regulators during replication, transcription, post-transcription, translation and post-translation accommodating a proper inheritance and expression of the plastome. Their number exceeds by far the number of the genes encoded by the plastome suggesting that a strong evolutionary pressure is maintaining the plastome in its present stage. The plastome gene organisation in vascular plants was found to be highly conserved, while algae exhibit a certain flexibility in gene number and organisation. These regulatory proteins are, therefore, an important determinant for the high degree of conservation in plant plastomes. A deeper understanding of individual roles and functions of such proteins would improve largely our understanding of plastid biogenesis and function, a knowledge that will be essential in the development of more efficient and productive plants for agriculture. The latter represents a major socio-economic need of fast growing mankind that asks for increased supply of food, fibres and biofuels in the coming decades despite the threats exerted by global change and fast spreading urbanisation.

Plastids are plant cell-specific organelles of endosymbiotic origin that contain their own genome, the so-called plastome. Its proper expression is essential for faithful chloroplast biogenesis during seedling development and for the establishment of photosynthetic and other biosynthetic functions in the organelle. The structural organisation, replication and expression of this plastid genome, thus, has been studied for many years, but many essential steps are still not understood. Especially, the structural and functional involvement of various regulatory proteins in these processes is still a matter of research. Studies from the last two decades demonstrated that a plethora of proteins act as specific regulators during replication, transcription, post-transcription, translation and post-translation accommodating a proper inheritance and expression of the plastome. Their number exceeds by far the number of the genes encoded by the plastome suggesting that a strong evolutionary pressure is maintaining the plastome in its present stage. The plastome gene organisation in vascular plants was found to be highly conserved, while algae exhibit a certain flexibility in gene number and organisation. These regulatory proteins are, therefore, an important determinant for the high degree of conservation in plant plastomes. A deeper understanding of individual roles and functions of such proteins would improve largely our understanding of plastid biogenesis and function, a knowledge that will be essential in the development of more efficient and productive plants for agriculture. The latter represents a major socio-economic need of fast growing mankind that asks for increased supply of food, fibres and biofuels in the coming decades despite the threats exerted by global change and fast spreading urbanisation.

The present book provides a comprehensive overview of our current knowledge on plastid biogenesis, plastid-nuclear communication, and the regulation of plastid gene expression at all levels. It also assesses the state-of-the-art in key technologies, such as proteomics and chloroplast transformation. Written by recognized experts in the field, the book further covers crucial post-translational processes in plastid biogenesis and function, including protein processing.

Chloroplast is the organelle where the life-giving process photosynthesis takes place; it is the site where plants and algae produce food and oxygen that sustain our life. The story of how it originates from proplastids, and how it ultimately dies is beautifully portrayed by three authorities in the field: Basanti Biswal, Udaya Biswal and M. K. Raval. I consider it a great privilege and honor to have been asked to write this foreword. The book ' Chloroplast biogenesis: from proplastid to gerontoplast' goes much beyond photosynthesis. The character of the book is different from that of many currently available books because it provides an integrated approach to cover the entire life span of the organelle including its senescence and death. The books available are mostly confined to the topics relating to the 'build up' or development of chloroplast during greening. The story of organelle biogenesis without description of the events associated with its regulated dismantling during genetically programmed senescence is incomplete. A large volume of literature is available in this area of chloroplast senescence accumulated during the last 20 years. Although some of the findings in this field have been organized in the form of reviews, the data in the book are generalized and integrated with simple text and graphics. This book describes the structural features of prop las tid and its transformation to fully mature chloroplast, which is subsequently transformed into gerontoplast exhibiting senescence syndrome. The book consists of five major chapters.

Chloroplasts are vital for life as we know it. At the leaf cell level, it is common knowledge that a chloroplast interacts with its surroundings – but this knowledge is often limited to the benefits of oxygenic photosynthesis and that chloroplasts provide reduced carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. This book presents the intricate interplay between chloroplasts and their immediate and more distant environments. The topic is explored in chapters covering aspects of evolution, the chloroplast/cytoplasm barrier, transport, division, motility and bidirectional signalling. Taken together, the contributed chapters provide an exciting insight into the complexity of how chloroplast functions are related to cellular and plant-level functions. The recent rapid advances in the presented research areas, largely made possible by the development of molecular techniques and genetic screens of an increasing number of plant model systems, make this interaction a topical issue.