[Separation of plant photosystems by sievorptive chromatography]

The pigment-protein complexes enriched with photosystem I (PPC-1) and photosystem II (PPC-2) were obtained using sievorptive chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex. Both types of complexes contain chlorophyll a, beta-carotene and minor quantities of chlorophyll b. Red absorption maxima for PPC-1 and PPC-2 are located at 676 and 673 nm, respectively. Using differential spectrophotometry, the degree of the reaction centre enrichment was established: PPC-1 has one P700 per 35 bulk chlorophyll a molecules, PPC-2 contains one P680 per 18 bulk chlorophyll a molecules. The yield of PPC-2 is 7-10 times lower than that of PPC-1 and equals to 0,3% of the chlorophyll content of the initial chloroplasts. The amount of P680 in PPC-1 preparations does not exceed 7% after a single chromatographic procedure; the amount of P700 in PPC-2 makes up to 2%. The method proposed is more advantageous with respect to higher reaction centre enrichment of PPC-1 and PPC-2 as compared to ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose.