ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATURE STRUCTURE AND ONTOGENY IN THE GRANA OF CHLOROPLASTS

摘要

Some reports on chloroplast infrastructure have emphasized a helical pattern of interconnections among the compartments of the grana. This pattern has been related to a theory of spiralndash;cyclical growth of grana stacks. The occurrence of multiple helices on the grana in angiosperm chloroplasts impugns the ontogenetic significance of the helical pattern. The compartments of a granum do not discriminate among the helices for quantity or quality of interconnections. No genetic helix can be distinguished. The theory of spiralndash;cyclical growth of grana, as currently stated, is inadequate to account for thein situstructure of normal grana in the chloroplasts of angiosperms.