3.4.2—
Etioplast Formation
Between 4 and 14 days of dark growth of Phaseolus vulgaris seedlings, the primary leaf primordia, which are already present in the dry seed, show a considerable amount of growth in increasing from a fresh weight of less than 1 mg to 30–40 mg while the cell number increases by more than 10 times and plastid number increases by 18 times (Bradbeer et al., 1974c). During this time the amount of membrane within the plastid increases considerably so that etioplasts like that in Fig. 3.2A are formed. The term etioplast was used first by Kirk and Tilney-Bassett (1967) and defines a structure which is typical of dark-grown seedlings, not normally found in plants grown under diurnal conditions of light and dark. In the bean etioplast about half of the membrane is organised in a regularly-arranged network of tubules called the prolamellar body with the remainder in concentrically arranged porous lamellar sheets (thylakoids). The prolamellar body shows a para-crystalline form and a knowledge of crystallography has contributed to the interpretation of its basic structure. In one plane the tubules form a mesh of hexagons, each individual hexagon being connected to the one immediately above by tubules arising from three alternate nodes, and to the one immediately below by tubules arising from the other three nodes (Weier & Brown, 1970). In planes cutting the hexagonal plane at 90º the arrangement of the tubules is approximately rectangular. Prolamellar bodies are frequently large and complex structures with evident discontinuities, but there are no published reports which account exactly for the structure of these large pro-
Figure 3.2
Stages of chloroplast development during the greening of the primary leaves
of 14-day-old dark-grown beans under continuous illumination of 3 mW. cm–2
A, no illumination; B, 105 minutes illumination; C, 4 hours illumination; D, 5
hours illumination; E, 15 hours illumination. Magnification × 25,000. Key
to lettering: PB, prolamellar body; other details as in Fig. 3.1.
lamellar bodies. Calculations based on measurements in the author's laboratory of electron micrographs of the prolamellar body structure described above show that 1 µm3 of the prolamellar body of 14-day-old dark-grown bean leaves should contain the equivalent of 44 µm2 of membrane.
From measurements of electron micrographs and the dimensions of the plastids determined by light microscopy it has been possible to follow the changes in the area of the lamellar sheets and of the volume of the prolamellar bodies during etioplast development. Determination of the number of plastids in the leaf then enables quantities per plastid (Bradbeer et al., 1974c) to be expressed on a per leaf basis as shown in Fig. 3.3. In Fig. 3.3 the area of membrane in the prolamellar bodies has been calculated on the basis stated above that 1 µm3 of prolamellar body contains 44 µm2 of membrane. As this factor is likely to vary during development according to the degree of contraction of the prolamellar body some inaccuracy is inevitable from this source for samples other than the 14-day-old one. In particular the slight apparent fall in the total membrane, shown in Fig. 3.3, after 14 days of dark growth may represent a contraction of the prolamellar body without any change in its membrane content. In the experiment shown in Fig. 3.3 membrane formation occurred between 6 and 14 days of growth. The porous lamellar sheets were formed first and the data are consistent with the presumed formation of the prolamellar bodies by some sort of condensation of these sheets (Weier & Brown, 1970). The area of the lamellar sheets reached a peak at 12 days after which the continued formation of the prolamellar bodies seems to have resulted in some consumption of the lamellar sheets.
During dark development of the etioplast most of the chemical components of the chloroplast are formed; for example all of the photosynthetic carbon cycle enzymes are present in the etioplast (Bradbeer et al., 1974c). Substances not yet detected in etioplasts which have received no illumination are chlorophyll, the chloroplast pigment-protein complexes and cytochrome b –559HP . The etioplasts of beans appear to reach the peak of their development by 14 days of dark growth while retaining an ability to form chloroplasts on illumination; however 17-day-old leaves with 75% of the etioplast membrane in the prolamellar body green only feebly and 21-day-old dark-green bean leaves fail to survive when transferred to illumination. It should also be pointed out that more rapid greening occurs in leaves younger than 14 days.
Figure 3.3
The formation of internal membrane during etioplast development in the
mesophyll of primary leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris during growth in
continuous darkness at 23°C
porous lamellar sheets;
