pH Dependence and Cofactor Requirements of Photochemical Reactions in Maize Chloroplasts

The pH dependence of the photoreduction of ferricyanide and the photoreduction of NADP from water and photosystem I activity have been compared in isolated chloroplasts from mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of Zea mays. The maximum activity of photoreduction of ferricyanide occurs at pH 8.5 in isolated mesophyll chloroplasts. The addition of methylamine does not cause a marked shift in the pH maximum, but brief sonication lowers the pH maximum to 7.0. In contrast, isolated bundle sheath chloroplasts have a pH maximum at 7.0 and the shape of the pH versus activity curve is similar to that of sonicated mesophyll chloroplasts. When photoreduction of ferricyanide by the isolated chloroplasts is measured at their pH maxima, the values for bundle sheath chloroplasts are about half those of methylamine-treated mesophyll chloroplasts on a chlorophyll basis.The pH maxima for the photoreduction of NADP from water and photosystem I activity are similar in both mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts with maximum activity occurring at pH 7.0 in both cases. In the presence of added plastocyanin and ferredoxin NADP-reductase, the photosystem I activities of both sonicated mesophyll and sonicated bundle sheath chloroplasts are significantly higher than those of the unsonicated preparations. On a chlorophyll basis, photosystem I activity of bundle sheath chloroplasts is at least twice that of mesophyll chloroplasts.