Galactolipid Synthesis in Vicia faba Leaves

Leaves of Vicia faba were fed (14)CO(2) in light for periods of up to 6 hours. At intervals, leaf samples were homogenized and separated into fractions which contained "broken" and "intact" chloroplasts, and three other high speed centrifugal fractions containing other cell membranes and chloroplast envelopes. Analyses of the radioactive labeling of galactose from the galactolipids in these fractions and in purified chloroplast envelopes indicated that the major site of galactosyl transferase enzyme activity was in the chloroplast envelope. The data suggest that in time much of the radioactive galactolipid was transferred from the envelope to the thylakoid-containing fractions. The major site of galactolipid synthesis appears to be in the envelope but there is some evidence of another site in the thylakoids.