PHOTOSYNTHETIC ACTIVITY IN ABSENCE OF CP1 AND CP2 PIGMENTARY COMPLEXES

Various photochemical activities were tested on chloroplasts of Zea mays that received 4 s of light every 4 h during the culture period. Photosystem I and Photosystem II were functioning, as well as the photosynthetic electron transport. These chloroplasts exhibited upon sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis neither Complex 1 (Mr [relative MW] 70,000) generally associated with Photosystem I nor Complex 2 (Mr 25,000) generally associated with Photosystem II. Chlorophyll is indeed attached to polypeptides of MW 21,000 and 29,000. These results lead us to question the functional role of chloroplast protein-pigment complexes observed by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis.