Partial Purification of Intact Chloroplasts from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Partially purified intact chloroplasts were prepared from batch cultures of both wild type (Wt) and a mutant strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Protoplasts were generated from log phase cultures of Wt (137c) and the phosphoribulokinase-deficient mutant F60 by incubation of the cells in autolysine. These protoplasts were suspended in an osmoticum, cooled, and then subjected to a 40 pounds per square inch pressure shock using a Yeda pressure bomb. The resulting preparation was fractionated on a Percoll step gradient which separated the intact chloroplasts from both broken chloroplasts and protoplasts. The chloroplast preparation was not significantly contaminated with the cytoplasmic enzyme activity phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (>5%), and contained (100%) stromal enzyme activity ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase. The chloroplast preparation is significantly contaminated by mitochondria, as determined by succinate dehydrogenase activity. Chloroplasts prepared from Wt cells retained CO2-dependent O2 photoevolution at rates in excess of 60 micromoles per milligram chlorophyll per hour, an activity which is severely inhibited by the addition of 10 millimolar KH2PO4. The chloroplasts are osmotically sensitive as determined by ferricyanide-dependent O2 photoevolution.