Photophosphorylation in Isolated Maize Bundle Sheath Chloroplasts and Cells

Isolated maize bundle sheath chloroplasts showed substantial rates of noncyclic photophosphorylation. A typical rate of phosphorylation coupled to whole-chain electron transport (methylviologen or ferricyanide as acceptor) was 60 mumol per hour per milligram chlorophyll) with a coupling efficiency (P/e(2)) of 0.6. Partial electron transport reactions driven by photosystem I or II supported phosphorylation with P/e(2) values of 0.2 to 0.3. Thus, two sites of phosphorylation seem to be associated with the photosynthetic chain in much the same way as in spinach chloroplasts.Isolated bundle sheath cells were capable of photosynthetic electron transport with membrane permeant electron carriers (but not with ferricyanide) at rates which were similar to those found in isolated chloroplasts. ATP formation also occurred during electron transport when ADP and phosphate were present in the cell suspension. The rates of photophosphorylation reactions in cells were about 30 to 40% of those found in isolated chloroplasts (maximum rate in cells 80 mumoles ATP per hour per milligram chlorophyll with diaminodurene as electron carrier), with the exception of endogenous photophosphorylation (photophosphorylation without added electron carriers) whose rate was three to four times higher in cells than in chloroplasts. The endogenous photophosphorylation in cells appeared to be coupled to pseudo-cyclic, rather than cyclic, electron transport. It was accompanied by O(2) uptake (when the catalase inhibitor KCN was present), was sensitive to dichlorophenyldimethylurea and methylamine, but was totally insensitive to 20 micromolar antimycin which completely inhibited succinate-supported oxidative phosphorylation in the cells. The implications of these and other phenomena associated with photophosphorylation in bundle sheath cells are discussed.