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Chlorophyll-proteins from maize seedlings grown under intermittent light conditions

Their stoichiometry and pigment content

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Abstract

We studied the organization of the antenna system of maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings grown under intermittent light conditions for 11 d. These plants had a higher chlorophyll-a/b ratio, a higher ratio of carotenoids to chlorophyll and a lower ratio of chlorophyll to protein than plants grown in continuous light. We found all chlorophyll-protein complexes of maize to be present. However, the minor chlorophyll a/b-proteins CP29 and CP26, and to a greater extent CP24 and the major light-harvesting complex II were reduced relative to the photosystem (PS) II core-complex. Also the chlorophyll a/b-antennae of PSI were reduced relative to the reaction-centre polypeptides. When isolated by flatbed isoelectrofocussing, the chlorophyll-a/b complexes of PSII showed a higher chlorophyll-a/b ratio and a lower ratio of chlorophyll to protein than the same complexes from continuous light; additionally, they bound more carotenoids per protein than the latter. Thus the altered organization of the photosynthetic apparatus of plants from intermittent light is caused by two different factors: (i) the altered stoichiometry of chlorophyll-binding proteins and (ii) a different ratio of pigment to protein within individual chlorophyll-proteins.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

CL:

continuous light

F:

fraction

HPLC:

high-performance liquid chromatography

IEF:

isoelectrofocussing

IL:

intermittent light

LHCII:

light-harvesting complex II

PAGE:

polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis

Phe:

pheophytin

SDS:

sodium dodecyl sulfate

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Author notes

  1. Jürgen Marquardt

    Present address: Fachbereich Biologie/Botanik, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, D-35032, Marburg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, Via Trieste 75, I-35121, Padova, Italy

    Jürgen Marquardt & Roberto Bassi

Authors
  1. Jürgen Marquardt
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  2. Roberto Bassi
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Additional information

This work was supported by the grant no. 4.7240.90 from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. We thank Drs. R. Barbato (Dipartimento di Biologia, Padua, Italy) and Olivier Vallon (Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, France) for their gifts of antibodies, Drs. R. Barbato and P. Dainese (Dipartimento di Biologia, Padua, Italy) for fruitful discussion and Prof. G. Gennari (Dipartimento di Chimica fisica, Padua, Italy) for his assistance in recording the excitation spectra. J.M. was supported by a Stipendium from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is gratefully acknowledged.

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Marquardt, J., Bassi, R. Chlorophyll-proteins from maize seedlings grown under intermittent light conditions. Planta 191, 265–273 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199759

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