A patch clamp method for determining single turnover charge separations in the chloroplast membrane

AbstractThis report describes the application of the chloroplast patching technique to study the primary electrogenic events in the thylakoid membrane. It is shown that by applying single turnover saturating light flashes the actual number of functional charge transferring reaction center channels in the thylakoid membrane and the voltage generated by this charge transfer can be determined in a single individual chloroplast. Moreover, low conducting barriers between the thylakoid membrane and the adjacent lumenal and stromal phases, respectively, are likely to exist