ArticlePLoS biology2022
Kleptoplasty: Getting away with stolen chloroplasts.
Article in PLoS biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Red light promotes sea slug growth while blue light increases longevity of stolen chloroplasts.Biology open · 2026Article
- Bacterial Community Composition and Functional Potential of the Kleptoplastic Sea SlugBiomolecules · 2026Article
- Sea urchin eggs contain a plastid-derived structure that contributes to their development.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- The photoacclimation state of stolen chloroplasts affects the light preferences in the photosynthetic sea slug Elysia crispata.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Laboratory Rearing of the Photosynthetic Sea SlugBiology · 2026Article
- Microbiome characterization of the sea slugs Elysia viridis and Placida dendritica: insights into potential roles in kleptoplasty.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Total Nitrogen Shapes Diversity of Bloom-Forming Dinoflagellates in the Baltic Coastal Waters.Biology · 2025Article
- Article
- Loss of state transitions in Bryopsidales macroalgae and kleptoplastic sea slugs (Gastropoda, Sacoglossa).Communications biology · 2025Article
- Habitat shapes the lipidome of the tropical photosynthetic sea slugMarine life science & technology · 2025Article
- Long-term functional kleptoplasty in benthic foraminifera.iScience · 2025Article
- Article
- Developing a media formulation to sustainFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of the Mucus of the Tropical Sea SlugMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Symbiotic revolutions at the interface of genomics and microbiology.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Prey species and abundance affect growth and photosynthetic performance of the polyphagous sea slugRoyal Society open science · 2023Article
- Food shaped photosynthesis: Photophysiology of the sea slugOpen research Europe · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Kleptoplasty, the process by which a host organism sequesters and retains algal chloroplasts, is relatively common in protists. The origin of the plastid varies, as do the length of time it is retained in the host and the functionality of the association. In metazoa, the capacity for long-term (several weeks to months) maintenance of photosynthetically active chloroplasts is a unique characteristic of a handful of sacoglossan sea slugs. This capability has earned these slugs the epithets "crawling leaves" and "solar-powered sea slugs." This Unsolved Mystery explores the basis of chloroplast maintenance and function and attempts to clarify contradictory results in the published literature. We address some of the mysteries of this remarkable association. Why are functional chloroplasts retained? And how is the function of stolen chloroplasts maintained without the support of the algal nucleus?
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.