[Thermoluminescence and electric polarization in chloroplasts]

Exposure of pea chloroplasts to electric field causes the appearance of a new thermoluminescence (TL) band at--(40-50) degrees C and a reduction of the intensity of its main bands. Extents of intensity drop are different for different components of TL and depend on the temperature of illumination. The charge traps responsible for the individual TL components seem to be localized in microsurroundings having different field susceptibility. The electric field effects observable at different temperatures are in correlation with the thermodepolarization currents which reflect the mobility and number of charged groups undergoing a field-induced displacement in chloroplast membranes. Dehydration. of chloroplast film preparations causes a reduction in the intensities of the TL peaks and thermodepolarization currents and a shift of the peaks positions toward higher temperatures. It is assumed that the traps of the recombining charges have two different conformations, each with its own frequency factor for the recombination reaction. Changes in the thermoluminescence behavior in applied electric field are due to the polarization of the traps, which increases the existence probability of a conformation with a high frequency factor.