Nv. Ignatov et Ff. Litvin, Biosynthesis of chlorophyll of photosystem II reaction centers in plant leaves in early stages of etiolation, BIOCHEM-MOS, 66(2), 2001, pp. 195-204
Spectral methods were used to study the sequences of chlorophyll biosynthes
is reactions in etiolated pea, bean, and maize plants in early stages (3-4
days) of growth. For these juvenile plants, along with the reaction chain k
nown for mature (7-9 day-old) plants, a new reaction chain was found which
started with phototransformation of the long-wavelength form PChld 686/676
into PChld 653/648. (PChld 653/648 differs from the main known precursor fo
rm PChld 655/650). The subsequent photoreduction of PChld 653/648 leads to
the formation of Chld 684/676, which is transformed into Chi 688/680 in the
course of a dark reaction. After completion of this reaction, fast (20-30
sec) quenching of the fluorescence of the reaction product is observed with
the formation of non-fluorescent Chi 680. The reaction accompanied by pigm
ent fluorescence quenching is absent in pea mutants with depressed function
of Photosystem II reaction centers. This suggests that the newly found rea
ction chain leads to the formation of chlorophyll of the Photosystem II rea
ction center.