Algae with two membranes of chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum (chloroplast E.R.) have the inner membrane of chloroplast E.R. surrounding the chloroplast envelope. The outer membrane of chloroplast E.R. is continuous with the outer membrane of the nuclear envelope and has ribosomes on the outer surface (Fig. V.1).

The algae with two membranes of chloroplast E.R. evolved by a secondary endosymbiosis (Fig. V.1) (Lee, 1977) when a phagocytic protozoan took up a eukaryotic photosynthetic alga into a food vesicle. Instead of being phagocytosed by the protozoan, the photosynthetic alga became established as an endosymbiont within the food vesicle of the protozoan. The endosymbiotic photosynthetic alga benefited from the acidic environment in the food vesicle that kept much of the inorganic carbon in the form of carbon dioxide, the form needed by ribulose bisphosphate/carboxylase for carbon fixation (see Part IV for further explanation). The host benefited by receiving some of the photosynthate from the endosymbiotic alga. The food vesicle membrane eventually fused with the endoplasmic reticulum of the host protozoan, resulting in ribosomes on the outer surface of this membrane, which became the outer membrane of the chloroplast E.R. Through evolution, ATP production and other functions of the endosymbiont's mitochondrion were taken over by the mitochondria of the protozoan host, and the mitochondria of the endosymbiont were lost. The host nucleus also took over some of the genetic control of the endosymbiont, with a reduction in the size and function of the nucleus of the endosymbiont.