Cinetique Des Echanges d'OXYGENE Et De La Fluorescence Des Chloroplastes Isoles

Oxygen evolution and fluorescence have been studied with isolated chloroplasts illuminated, in the absence of Hill reagents, by flashes or continuous light. As in whole cells, at least two substances are involved in the primary process leading to the oxygen evolution. The first, called E, probably is the photochemical “complex” of System II. After a long period of darkness, E is not active. It is activated in two steps. Step one is a photochemical reaction, induced by a quantum of light absorbed by pigment‐system II, which results in the production of E in a reduced state. Step two is a dark oxidation of the reduced E by the second substance, A. The oxidized E can then enter the normal photochemical cycle of system II. Reduced E might alternatively be oxidized by oxygen, this reaction being responsible for a very rapid and brief light‐induced oxygen uptake. Substance A is measured by the oxygen burst and is present in the chloroplasts at the approximate ratio of 1 molecule for 70 molecules of total chlorophyll while E is at the ratio of about 1/2800. This gives a E over A value of 1/35 which is much smaller than the one found in whoe cells ( ca. 1/10). This independent behavior of E and A suggests that chloroplast extraction destroys some photochemical centers without having a direct impact on A , which might diffuse from one center to another. Besides the brief light‐induced oxygen uptake above mentioned, there is another one which is related to System I functioning. The kinetics of the oxygen evolution and of the fluorescence have been compared. During the activation process of the oxygen evolving ability, rate of oxygen evolution and fluorescence yield increase in a parallel way. After the maximum velocity of the oxygen burst is reached (i.e. after activation), the fluorescence yield keeps growing up until the steady‐state is attained (with an intermediary plateau), whereas the rate of oxygen emission slows down. The time‐course curves of fluorescence obtained with inactivated or activated chloroplasts are essentially different in that the initial yield is higher in the latter case.