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. 1979 Mar;76(3):1233–1235. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.3.1233

Higher plant chloroplasts: Evidence that all the chlorophyll exists as chlorophyll—protein complexes

John P Markwell 1,2, J Philip Thornber 1,2, Russell T Boggs 1,2
PMCID: PMC383224  PMID: 16592629

Abstract

By using the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system described in this report, it was possible to fractionate all the photosynthetic pigments of maize (Zea mays L.) thylakoids into chlorophyll—protein complexes with negligible formation of free or detergent-complexed chlorophyll. Identical sodium dodecyl sulfate extracts of thylakoids have previously resulted in up to 50% of the chlorophyll migrating as free chlorophyll after electrophoresis. The major difference from previous gel electrophoresis systems is the replacement of sodium dodecyl sulfate in the electrophoresis buffer by Deriphat 160 (disodium N-lauryl-β-iminodipropionate), a zwitterionic detergent. The results suggest that: (i) no significant amount of free chlorophyll exists in the chloroplast thylakoid membranes in vivo, and (ii) most of the free pigment seen previously on gels was generated during the electrophoresis and was not a result of the solubilization technique. Additionally, the new chlorophyll-protein complexes resolved appear to have different characteristics (pigment content and size) that those observed in former systems.

Keywords: Zea mays L., zwitterionic detergent, electrophoretic fractionation

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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