Fractionation of the thylakoid membranes from tobacco. A tentative isolation of 'end membrane' and purified 'stroma lamellae' membranes

Thylakoids isolated from tobacco were fragmented by sonication and the vesicles so obtained were separated by partitioning in aqueous polymer two-phase systems. By this procedure, grana vesicles were separated from stroma exposed membrane vesicles. The latter vesicles could be further fractionated by countercurrent distribution, with dextran–polyethylene glycol phase systems, and divided into two main populations, tentatively named ‘stroma lamellae’ and ‘end membrane’. Both these vesicle preparations have high chlorophyll a/b ratio, high photosystem (PS) I and low PS II content, suggesting their origin from stroma exposed regions of the thylakoid. The two vesicle populations have been compared with respect to biochemical composition and photosynthetic activity. The ‘end membrane’ has a higher chlorophyll a/b ratio (5.7 vs. 4.7), higher P700 content (4.7 vs. 3.3 mmol/mol of chlorophyll). The ‘end membrane’ has the lowest PS II content, the ratio PS I/PS II being more than 10, as shown by EPR measurements. The PS II in both fractions is of the β-type. The decay of fluorescence is different for the two populations, the ‘stroma lamellae’ showing a very slow decay even in the presence of K3Fe(CN)6 as an acceptor. The two vesicle populations have very different surface properties: the end membranes prefer the upper phase much more than the stroma lamellae, a fact which was utilized for their separation. Arguments are presented which support the suggestion that the two vesicle populations originate from the grana end membranes and the stroma lamellae, respectively.