Differences in chlorophyll-protein complexes and composition of polypeptides between thylakoids from bundle sheaths and mesophyll cells in maize

Abstract

Thylakoids from enzymatically separated bundle sheath and mesophyll tissue chloroplast were examined for their chlorophyll-proteins by tube sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Differences were found in distribution of chlorophyll among peaks. The chlorophyll-protein a peak (CPa), considered to be the photosystem II (PSII) reaction center by many authors, was absent in bundle sheath thylakoid samples. The slab SDS-PAGE revealed the absence of the polypeptide present in PSII preparations of chloroplast subfractions having only PSII activity. This finding confirms Anderson''s hypothesis of the structure of grana and stroma thylakoids.