Abstract
Plastid genomes (plastomes) are part of the integrated compartmentalised genetic system of photoautotrophic eukaryotes. They are highly redundant and generally dispersed in several regions (nucleoids) within organelles. DNA quantities and number of DNA-containing regions per plastid vary and are developmentally regulated in a way not yet understood. Reliable quantitative data describing these patterns are scarce. We present a protocol to isolate fractions of pure plastids with varying average sizes from leaflets (8 microm average diameter, corresponding from approximately a dozen to 330 genome equivalents per organelle and on average four to seven copies per nucleoid. The ratio of plastid/nuclear DNA changed continuously during leaf development from as little as 0.4% to about 20% in fully developed leaves. On the other hand, mesophyll cells of mature leaves differing in ploidy (di-, tri- and tetraploid) appeared to maintain a relatively constant nuclear genome/plastome ratio, equivalent to about 1,700 copies per C-value.