A New Hematin Compound Isolated from Euglena Gracilis

Abstract

Euglena gracilis has a property of losing chlorophylls when cultured heterotrophically in the dark. When the colorless cells thus produced are grown photo-autotrophically under illumination, they synthesize gradually chlorophylls a and b with the development of photosynthetic activity (1, 2). During the investigation on this phenomenon, we found that in the process of greening of the dark-cultured white cells, there occurred, concomitant with the appearance of chlorophylls, a formation of a cytochrome which had been undetectable in the original colorless cells. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the method of isolation and some properties of this cytochrome which differs in some significant points from other cytochromes thus far reported in the literature. Tentatively this cytochrome may be designated by the name Eulena-cytochrome-552.