Chloroplasts, the plant cell's green solar power generators, were once living beings in their own right. This changed about one billion years ago, when they were swallowed up but not digested by larger cells. Since then, they have lost much of their autonomy. As time went on, most of their genetic information found its way into the cell nucleus; today, chloroplasts would no longer be able to live outside their host cell. Scientists in Scientists have now discovered that chloroplast genes take a direct route to the cell nucleus, where they can be correctly read in spite of their architectural differences.

Source: Direct transfer of plant genes from...espite structural differences in the dna