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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

In Vitro Reconstitution of Light-harvesting Complexes of Plants and Green Algae
Published on: October 10, 2014
The formation of chlorophyll from chlorophyllide in leaves containing proplastids is a four-step process
1Laboratory of Biomembranes, University of South Bohemia at Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
The time course of the different esters of chlorophyllide (Chlide) during the formation of chlorophyll a (Chl) in embryonic bean leaves containing proplastids was investigated by HPLC. After the reduction of photoactive Pchlide (Pchlide) to Chlide, three intermediates, i.e. Chlide geranylgeraniol, Chlide dihydrogeranylgeraniol and Chlide tetrahydrogeranylgeraniol were detected before the formation of Chlide phytol, i.e. authentic Chl. The transformation of Chlide to Chl was found to be much faster in leaves containing proplastids than in etiolated leaves with etioplasts.
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