Summary
In monogenic, recessive chloroplast mutants of maize which contain chlorophylls, and lycopene or χ-carotene but no normal carotenoids, great variability in the size of plastids was associated with a number of ultrastructural abnormalities. In the mutant accumulating lycopene some plastids contain dense bundles of lamellae, whereas the chloroplasts of the χ-carotene mutant show poor thylakoid development. Neither of the mutants was able to form normal grana.
A comparison of chlorophyll/carotenoid ratios in different chloroplast fractions of normal and mutant leaves showed that plastids of small size and delicate structure contain relatively less chlorophyll than fully differentiated chloroplasts.
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Faludi-Dániel, Á., Fridvalszky, L. & Gyurján, I. Pigment composition and plastid structure in leaves of carotenoid mutants of maize. Planta 78, 184–195 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406649
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406649