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Adaptation of the thylakoid membranes of pea chloroplasts to light intensities. I. Study on the distribution of chlorophyll-protein complexes

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Abstract

The effect of light intensity (16 h white light and 8 h dark) during growth of pea plants at 20°C on the chlorophyll composition and on the relative distribution of chlorophyll amongst the various chlorophyll-protein of pea thylakoids was studied. The chl a/chl b ratios increased from 2.1 to 3.2 as light intensity during growth varied from 10 to 840 μEm-2 s-1. This function can be described by two straight lines intersecting at a transition point of approximately 200 μEm-2 s-1. Similar discontinuities in the responses were observed in the changes in the relative distribution of chlorophyll amongst the various chlorophyll-protein complexes. This demonstrates that the chl a/chl b ratio of the various thylakoids is a good indicator of changes in the relative distribution of chlorophyll. As the chl a/chl b ratio decreased, the amount of chlorophyll associated with photosystem I complexes decreased, that with photosystem II core reaction centre complex was halved, and that with the main chl a/b-proteins of the light-harvesting complex was markedly increased.

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Abbreviations

chl:

chlorophyll

PS:

photosystem

SDS:

sodium dodecyl sulphate

Tricine:

N-tris (hydroxymethyl) methylglycine

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Industry, CSIRO, GPO Box 1600, 2601, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Ta-Yan Leong & Jan M. Anderson

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  1. Ta-Yan Leong
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  2. Jan M. Anderson
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Leong, TY., Anderson, J.M. Adaptation of the thylakoid membranes of pea chloroplasts to light intensities. I. Study on the distribution of chlorophyll-protein complexes. Photosynth Res 5, 105–115 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00028524

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00028524

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