Title
Direct observation of large chiral domains in chloroplast thylakoid membranes by differential polarization microscopy
Date Issued
14 December 1989
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Universidad de Nuevo León
Publisher(s)
National Academy of Sciences
Abstract
Long-range chiral organization of the pigment-protein complexes in mature granal chloroplasts has been established by differential polarization imaging and local circular dichroism spectra. Linear and circular dichroism images of oriented chloroplasts were obtained in a confocal differential polarization microscopy. The circular dichroism images display signals of opposite signs emerging from discrete regions with local dichroic values much larger than anticipated, indicating domains in the thylakoid membranes having long-range chiral organization. These domains are associated with positive and negative circular dichroism bands obtained at specific locations on the chloroplasts. Surprisingly, the local circular dichroism spectra do not display the excitonic shape of spectra obtained for macroscopic suspensions, but the latter can be produced by superposition of two local spectra of opposite sign. These data are evidence for the existence of long-range chiral order of the pigment-protein complexes in thylakoid membranes. The possible role of the long-range chiral domains in the efficiency of energy delocalization through the thylakoid membranes is discussed.
Start page
8748
End page
8752
Volume
86
Issue
22
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología celular, Microbiología
Química física
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0024317085
PubMed ID
Source
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ISSN of the container
00278424
Sponsor(s)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences R37GM032543
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus