[ On the absence of high-molecular polyphosphates in chloroplasts of Acetabularia mediterranea]

High-molecular polyphosphates have been identified in a crude fraction of chloroplasts of Acetabularia mediterranea. However, after a short-term treatment of the fraction with a hypotonic salt solution and centrifugation in a sucrose density gradient it was found possible to completely separate high-molecular polyphosphates from intact chloroplasts. Consequently the chloroplasts themselves contain no high-molecular polyphosphates. It is assumed that the high-molecular polysphates found in a crude fraction of chloroplasts are constitutents of the "metachromatic" granules which can be revealed in the A. mediterranea cytoplasm by cytochemical methods.