Effect of detergents on the reliability of a chemical assay for P-700

A chemical assay for P-700 was developed using 0.36 mM potassium ferricyanide as oxidant and 1.6 mM sodium ascorbate as reductant. The major difference from other chemical assays for P-700 is procedural. The method is designed to take advantage of the availability of microprocessor-linked spectrophotometers to obtain greater accuracy by minimizing the spectral changes due to irreversibly oxidized antenna chlorophyll molecules. The value measured for the P-700 concentration in a sample of chloroplasts was not changed by the presence of EDTA, Mg²⁺ or sucrose in the assayed solution. Similarly, half of the detergents tested (Triton X-100, Nonidet P-40, digitonin, Deriphat 160, Miranol S2M-SF and Miranol M2M) did not alter the value when added to the chloroplasts. The remainder of the detergents examined caused a significant decrease or increase in the value for P-700 content. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, of particular interest due to its widespread use, caused a doubling in the amount of apparent P-700. This effect may be due to this detergent and some others enabling an additional long wavelength form of chlorophyll, possibly an intermediary electron acceptor in Photosystem I, to be chemically oxidized and reduced under the assay conditions.