Chloroplast Biogenesis 87: Evidence of Resonance Excitation Energy Transfer Between Tetrapyrrole Intermediates of the Chlorophyll Biosynthetic Pathway and Chlorophyll a¶†

Abstract The thorough understanding of photosynthetic membrane assembly requires a deeper knowledge of the coordination of chlorophyll (Chl) and thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis. As a working model for future investigations, we have proposed three Chl–thylakoid apoprotein biosynthesis models, namely, a single-branched Chl biosynthetic pathway (SBP) single-location model, an SBP multilocation model and a multibranched Chl biosynthetic pathway (MBP) sublocation model. Rejection or validation of these models can be probed by determination of resonance excitation energy transfer between various tetrapyrrole intermediates of the Chl biosynthetic pathway and various thylakoid Chl–protein complexes. In this study we describe the detection of resonance energy transfer between protoporphyrin IX (Proto), Mg-Proto and its monomethyl ester (Mp(e)) and divinyl and monovinyl protochlorophyllide a (Pchlide a) and several Chl–protein complexes. Induction of various amounts of tetrapyrrole accumulation in green photoperi...