THE FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF 23 kD AND 24 kD POLYPEPTIDES OF THYLAKOID IN Mg~(2+)-INDUCED CHANGE OF EXCITATION ENERGY DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN TWO PHOTOSYSTEMS IN THE CHLOROPLASTS FROM Codium fragile

In contrast to the chloroplasts from higher plants, Mg~(2+)-induced PS--Ⅱ fluorescence inten-sity increase does not relate to Mg~(2+)-induced surface charge density decrease of thylakoidin the chloroplasts from Codium fragile. Tbe extraction of the green alga chloroplasts withCa~(2+) to remove the 30--31kD polypeptide (Q_B protein) on the thylakoid surface does notaffect the above Mg~(2+)-induced phenomena. If the Ca~(2+)-treated chloroplasts are further di-gested by trypsin to remove the 23kD and 24kD polypeptides on the membrane surface,the Mg~(2+)-induced fluorescence effect will completely disappear whereas the property ofMg~(2+)-induced surface charge density changes remains unchanged. These results not onlyshow that the 23kDa and 24kDa polypeptides on the thylakoid surface are the specific act-ing sites of the cation that induce Chla fluorescence change, but also demonstrate that thecation-induced change of excitation energy distribution between two photosystems is not con-trolled by the electrostatic property of thylakoid surface in the chloroplasts of Codiumfragile.