LIGHT-INDUCED OXIDATION OF A CHLOROPLAST B-TYPE CYTOCHROME AT -189°C

Abstract

The b-type cytochromes of chloroplasts have heretofore been viewed as photosynthetic electron carriers that probably occupy an intermediate position in a light-induced electron flow. The oxidation-reduction of such intermediate electron carriers, being removed from the primary photochemical reaction linked to photon capture by chlorophyll, would be expected to show a temperature dependence. Evidence has now been obtained that cytochrome b(559) is photooxidized at -189 degrees C and that this photooxidation can be induced only by "short-wavelength" monochromatic light which activates the oxygen-evolving system in chloroplasts (photosystem II). In appears, therefore, that photooxidation of cytochrome b(559) is closely linked with photon capture by the chlorophyll pigments characteristic of photosystem II.