Photosynthetica, 2012 (vol. 50), issue 2

Photosynthetica 2012, 50(2):291-304 | DOI: 10.1007/s11099-012-0028-4

A universal method for the isolation of photochemically active broken chloroplasts from conifer needles and its possible application in photosynthetic studies

D. Holá1, M. Kočová1,*, O. Rothová1, E. Hlízová2, L. Fridrichová1, Z. Lhotáková2, J. Albrechtová2
1 Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Prague, Czechoslovakia
2 Department of Experimental Plant Biology, Prague 2, Czech Republic

We have developed a simple and an effective method for the isolation of photochemically active broken chloroplasts from conifer needles that can be applied for a wide variety of conifer species with needle-like leaves. The utilisation of this method in photosynthetic studies offers a possibility to examine the efficiency of almost any component of thylakoid electron-transport chain and to disclose information about individual parts of primary photosynthetic processes that would be otherwise difficult to obtain. Various aspects influencing the outcome of this procedure, including the amount of needles necessary for sufficient yields, the possible length and the conditions of their storage, the best method for their disruption, the composition and pH of isolation and storage buffers, the centrifugation sequence, etc., are discussed.

Keywords: photosynthesis; photosystem I; photosystem II

Received: November 1, 2011; Accepted: March 24, 2012; Published: June 1, 2012Show citation

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Holá, D., Kočová, M., Rothová, O., Hlízová, E., Fridrichová, L., Lhotáková, Z., & Albrechtová, J. (2012). A universal method for the isolation of photochemically active broken chloroplasts from conifer needles and its possible application in photosynthetic studies. Photosynthetica, 50(2), 291-304. doi: 10.1007/s11099-012-0028-4.
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