The development of the intense circular-dichroic signal during granum formation in greening etiolated maize

In greening maize mesophyll, circular dichroism (c.d.) revealed the early formation of protein-chlorophyll complexes, followed by unorganized chlorophyll. The intense c.d. [Gregory & Raps (1974) Biochem. J. 142, 193-201] appeared later still, whereas membrane-membrane contact (stacking), measured from electron micrographs, appeared much earlier. Isolated grana, which still showed stacking, lost 92% of their original intense c.d.; intense c.d. is not therefore simply dependent on stacking.