Composition of photosynthetic pigments in thylakoid membrane vesicles from spinach

Thylakoid membranes from spinach were fragmented mechanically and separated into vesicles originating from grana and stroma-exposed lamellae (Andreasson et al. (1988) Biochim Biophys Acta 936: 339–350). The grana vesicles were further fragmented and separated into smaller vesicles originating from different parts of the grana (Svensson and Albertsson (1989) Photosynth Res 20: 249–259). All vesicles so obtained were analyzed with respect to chlorophyll and carotenoid composition by reverse phase HPLC. For all fractions the following relations (mole/mole) were found: 1 carotenoid per 4 chlorophyll (a+b), 2 lutein per 5 chlorophyll b and 5 violaxanthin per 100 chlorophyll (a + b). The contents of lutein and neoxanthin were each linearly related to chlorophyll b and -carotene was linearly related to chlorophyll a.