Chloroplast Biogenesis 60

In higher plants, most of the chlorophyll a is formed via the divinyl and monovinyl chlorophyll monocarboxylic biosynthetic routes. These two routes are strongly interconnected prior to protochlorophyllide formation in barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Morex), a dark monovinyl-light divinyl plant species, but not in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv Beit Alpha MR), a dark divinyl-light divinyl plant species (BC Tripathy, CA Rebeiz, 1986 J Biol Chem 261: 13556-13564). It is shown that in dark monovinyl-light divinyl plant species such as barley, the divinyl and monovinyl monocarboxylic routes become interconnected at the level of protochlorophyllide during transition from the divinyl to the monovinyl protochlorophyllide biosynthetic mode. In cucumber, a dark divinyl-light divinyl plant species, in which the monovinyl monocarboxylic biosynthetic route becomes preponderant only after an abnormally long sojourn in darkness, the conversion of divinyl to monovinyl protochlorophyllide does not take place on the barley time-scale of incubation.