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. 1981 Feb;67(2):212–215. doi: 10.1104/pp.67.2.212

Effects of Trypsin and Cations on Chloroplast Membranes

Robert C Jennings 1, Paolo D Gerola 1, Flavio M Garlaschi 1, Giorgio Forti 1
PMCID: PMC425656  PMID: 16661648

Abstract

A mild tryptic digestion of chloroplast membranes eliminates the effects of saturating concentrations of cations (3 to 5 millimolar MgCl2) on chlorophyll fluorescence yield, membrane stacking, and photosystem II photochemical efficiency in spinach. At the same time, the negative surface potential of the membranes is increased (by trypsin) as revealed by studies with 9-aminoacridine. High concentrations of cations (25 to 100 millimolar MgCl2) added after trypsin digestion are effective in restoring high fluorescence yields and membrane stacking. High concentrations of cations added after trypsin treatment do not increase the photosystem II efficiency. It is concluded that the “diffuse electrical layer” hypothesis of Barber et al. (Barber J, J Mills, A Love, 1977 FEBS Lett 74: 174-181) satisfactorily explains the effect of trypsin in eliminating the influence of saturating concentrations of cations on chlorophyll fluorescence yield and membrane stacking. However, the effect on photosystem II photochemical efficiency seems to require another mechanism.

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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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