Biomaterial Database

Localization of photosynthetic electron transport components in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts of Zea mays. 1983

M L Ghirardi, and A Melis

The organization of the electron transport components in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts of Zea mays was investigated. Grana-containing mesophyll chloroplasts (chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b ratio of about 3.0) possessed the full complement of the various electron transport components, comparable to chloroplasts from C3 plants. Agranal bundle sheath chloroplasts (Chl a/Chl b greater than 5.0) contained the full complement of photosystem (PS) I and of cytochrome (cyt) f but lacked a major portion of PS II and its associated Chl a/b light-harvesting complex (LHC), and most of the cyt b559. The kinetic analysis of system I photoactivity revealed that the functional photosynthetic unit size of PS I was unchanged and identical in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts. The results suggest that PS I is contained in stroma-exposed thylakoids and that it does not receive excitation energy from the Chl a/b LHC present in the grana. A stoichiometric parity between PS I and cyt f in mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts indicates that biosynthetic and functional properties of cyt f and P700 are closely coordinated. Thus, it is likely that both cyt f and P700 are located in the membrane of the intergrana thylakoids only. The kinetic analysis of PS II photoactivity revealed the absence of PS II alpha from the bundle sheath chloroplasts and helped identify the small complement of system II in bundle sheath chloroplasts as PS II beta. The distribution of the main electron transport components in grana and stroma thylakoids is presented in a model of the higher plant chloroplast membrane system.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007700	Kinetics	The rate dynamics in chemical or physical systems.
D010084	Oxidation-Reduction	A chemical reaction in which an electron is transferred from one molecule to another. The electron-donating molecule is the reducing agent or reductant; the electron-accepting molecule is the oxidizing agent or oxidant. Reducing and oxidizing agents function as conjugate reductant-oxidant pairs or redox pairs (Lehninger, Principles of Biochemistry, 1982, p471).	Redox,Oxidation Reduction
D010777	Photochemistry	A branch of physical chemistry which studies chemical reactions, isomerization and physical behavior that may occur under the influence of visible and/or ultraviolet light.	Photochemistries
D010788	Photosynthesis	The synthesis by organisms of organic chemical compounds, especially carbohydrates, from carbon dioxide using energy obtained from light rather than from the oxidation of chemical compounds. Photosynthesis comprises two separate processes: the light reactions and the dark reactions. In higher plants; GREEN ALGAE; and CYANOBACTERIA; NADPH and ATP formed by the light reactions drive the dark reactions which result in the fixation of carbon dioxide. (from Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2001)	Calvin Cycle,Calvin-Benson Cycle,Calvin-Benson-Bassham Cycle,Carbon Fixation, Photosynthetic,Reductive Pentose Phosphate Cycle,Dark Reactions of Photosynthesis,Calvin Benson Bassham Cycle,Calvin Benson Cycle,Cycle, Calvin,Cycle, Calvin-Benson,Cycle, Calvin-Benson-Bassham,Photosynthesis Dark Reaction,Photosynthesis Dark Reactions,Photosynthetic Carbon Fixation
D002734	Chlorophyll	Porphyrin derivatives containing magnesium that act to convert light energy in photosynthetic organisms.	Phyllobilins,Chlorophyll 740
D002736	Chloroplasts	Plant cell inclusion bodies that contain the photosynthetic pigment CHLOROPHYLL, which is associated with the membrane of THYLAKOIDS. Chloroplasts occur in cells of leaves and young stems of plants. They are also found in some forms of PHYTOPLANKTON such as HAPTOPHYTA; DINOFLAGELLATES; DIATOMS; and CRYPTOPHYTA.	Chloroplast,Etioplasts,Etioplast
D003313	Zea mays	A plant species of the family POACEAE. It is a tall grass grown for its EDIBLE GRAIN, corn, used as food and animal FODDER.	Corn,Indian Corn,Maize,Teosinte,Zea,Corn, Indian
D004579	Electron Transport	The process by which ELECTRONS are transported from a reduced substrate to molecular OXYGEN. (From Bennington, Saunders Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Laboratory Medicine and Technology, 1984, p270)	Respiratory Chain,Chain, Respiratory,Chains, Respiratory,Respiratory Chains,Transport, Electron
D001665	Binding Sites	The parts of a macromolecule that directly participate in its specific combination with another molecule.	Combining Site,Binding Site,Combining Sites,Site, Binding,Site, Combining,Sites, Binding,Sites, Combining