The journey of preproteins across the chloroplast membrane systems.

The photosynthetic capacity of chloroplasts is vital for autotrophic growth in algae and plants. The origin of the chloroplast has been explained by the endosymbiotic theory that proposes the engulfment of a cyanobacterium by an ancestral eukaryotic cell followed by the transfer of many cyanobacterial genes to the host nucleus. As a result of the gene transfer, the now nuclear-encoded proteins acquired chloroplast targeting peptides (known as transit peptides; transit peptide) and are translated as preproteins in the cytosol.