Photosynthetic Activity of Spinach Chloroplasts after Isopycnic Centrifugation in Gradients of Silica

Chloroplast suspensions from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) were clearly resolved into intact and stripped chloroplasts by isopycnic centrifugation in density gradients of silica sol ("Ludox") and polyethlene glycol. The intact chloroplasts fixed CO(2) and evolved O(2) more rapidly than the crude suspensions; the stripped chloroplasts were inactive. During the photosynthetic fixation of (14)CO(2) in the intact chloroplasts recovered from the gradient, the (14)C label was observed to spread through the photosynthetic intermediate pools, as well as into starch, which indicates that the purified chloroplasts are metabolically competent. This appears to be the first report of the retention of photosynthetic activity following the purification of chloroplasts in density gradients.