Plastid fusion as an agent to arrest sorting out.

Plastid fusions were noted in an ultrastrucutal study of a mutant of Hosta showing slow sorting out of plastid genes. These data suggest that fusions between wild type and mutant plastids might increase the mixing of plastid DNA and hence slow the process of sorting out. It is likely that peripheral reticula are involved in the process of plastid fusion between the mutant and wild-type plastids.