Ultrastructural changes in chloroplasts resulting from fluctuations in nacl concentration: freeze-fracture of thylakoid membranes in Dunaliella salina

The structure of chloroplasts isolated from Dunaliella salina has been studied with respect to changing concentrations of sodium chloride in the culture medium. Freeze-fracture replicas and thin sections of intact chloroplasts do not exhibit any noticeable changes in structure at concentrations ranging between 3.5 and 25% NaCl. Chloroplasts isolated from algal cells that have been acclimatized to the higher salt concentration show a change in the thylakoid membranes. The thylakoid membranes appear compressed over a major portion of the membrane surface, with only the end of the thylakoid membranes unappressed. The number of particles per unit area on the B face is also altered by the salt concentration. The chloroplasts acclimatized to 25% NaCl have about 3 times the number of particles per unit area on a B face of end-membranes as on a comparable face of thylakoid membranes acclimatized to low (3.5% NaCl) salt concentration. These morphological changes can be reversed if the chloroplasts acclimatized to high or low salt concentrations are returned to a medium of different salt concentration prior to freeze-fracturing.