Open AccessThe Plastid Membranes of Barley ( Hordeum vulgare )
Author(s) -
APEL Klaus,
KLOPPSTECH Klaus
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
european journal of biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1432-1033
pISSN - 0014-2956
DOI - 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12273.x
Subject(s) - hordeum vulgare , chlorophyll , plastid , thylakoid , chlorophyll a , messenger rna , chlorophyll b , hordeum , chloroplast , mutant , biology , biochemistry , botany , chemistry , gene , poaceae
Illumination of dark‐grown barley plants induces a massive insertion of the light‐harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein into the developing thylakoid membrane. In addition to the onset of chlorophyll synthesis, light induces specifically the appearance of a prominent mRNA species which codes for a polypeptide of M r 29500. This component was identified as a precursor of the apoprotein of the light‐harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein. The precursor has an M r larger than the authentic protein by approximately 4000. Studies of the chlorophyll‐ b ‐less mutant chlorina f2 of barley offer the first clue to the mechanism which controls the light‐dependent mRNA formation. The induction of the mRNA coding for the apoprotein of the light‐harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein does not seem to be linked directly to the assembly process of the light‐harvesting structure and does not require chlorophyll b . It is proposed that light exerts its influence on the mRNA formation by a reaction which is different from the phototransformation of protochlorophyll(ide) to chlorophyll(ide).