Genes on the Move

[@Hodenkobolt0209]

Why is the DNA fired by the gene gun only incorporated in the Chloroplasts? Couldn't it also find it's way into the nucleus?

[@kaiserskaffee]

Hodenkobolt0209 exactly my thoughts...

[@MPIMPPotsdamGolm]

That’s because the foreign DNA is integrated by homologous recombination. In doing so, the DNA base sequence at both ends of the integrated gene is identical with the sequence of the targeted chloroplast-DNA. The new gene is integrated exactly at this defined position in the chloroplast-genome and cannot be entered anywhere else.