A leafy thief that steals chloroplasts but cannot keep them

Abstract

Abstract The ability to steal functional chloroplasts from algae and retain them as endosymbionts is unique in the animal kingdom, found only in some sacoglossan sea slugs and a few species of rhabdocoel flatworms (Trench 1969, van Steenkiste et al., 2019). This ability has been termed functional kleptoplasty (Rumpho, et al., 2011). In sacoglossan slugs, kleptoplasts (stolen chloroplasts) are obtained directly from their algal food. Using a radular tooth, the slug pierces algal cells and sucks out the cytoplasm (Jensen, 1980). The chloroplasts are isolated from the rest of the algal cytoplasm and retained in digestive gland epithelial cells (Trench 1969).