LIGHT-HARVESTING CHLOROPHYLL C-LIKE PIGMENT IN PROCHLORON

A chlorophyll c-like pigment, similar to magnesium-3,8-divinyl pheopor phyrin a(5) monomethyl ester, has been isolated from Prochloron sp. ob tained from five species of didemnid ascidians from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and from Palau, Micronesia. The pigment represents 4- 15% of the total chlorophyll content and is shown to function in a lig ht-harvesting pigment protein complex of Prochloron. The observation t hat all of the major chlorophylls (a+b+c) function in a light-harvesti ng role in Prochloron and possibly in other prochlorophytes is discuss ed in terms of the phylogeny of the prochlorophytes.