Photosynthetic Apparatus in the Green Bacterium Chloropseudomonas ethylicum

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Abstract
When cells of C. ethylicum were broken by ballistic disruption and examined by electron microscopy, vesicles 1,300 to 1,500 A indiameter were found to rim the periphery of the cell. Examination of these vesicles obtained by disruption with a French pressure cell and purified by density gradient centrifugation revealed interconnections between the vesicles. During sonic and Mickle disruption of the cells, chlorophyll was released at a lower rate than soluble cytoplasmic components, but faster than the membrane-bound enzyme succinic dehydrogenase. Unlike the situation that exists in the purple photosynthetic bacteria, it appears that the chlorophyll in the green bacteria is contained as part of a structure which may be differentiated both structurally and functionally from the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane.