Mono-and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG) were isolated from the leaves of sixteen 16:3 plants. In all of these plant species, the sn-2 position of MGDG was more enriched in C1, fatty acids than sn-2 of DGDG. The molar ratios of prokaryotic MGDG to prokaryotic DGDG ranged from 4 to 10. This suggests that 16:3 plants synthesize more prokaryotic MGDG than prokaryotic DGDG. In the 16:3 plant Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach), the formation of prokaryotic galactolipids was studied both in vivo and in vitro. In intact spinach leaves as well as in chloroplasts isolated from these leaves, radioactivity from [1-14C]acetate accumulated 10 times faster in MGDG than in DGDG. After 2 hours of incorporation, most labeled galactolipids from leaves and all labeled galactolipids from isolated chloroplasts were in the prokaryotic configuration. Both in vivo and in vitro, the desaturation of labeled palmitate and oleate to trienoic fatty acids was higher in MGDG than in DGDG. In leaves, palmitate at the sn-2 position was desaturated in MGDG but not in DGDG. In isolated chloroplasts, palmitate at sn-2 similarly was desaturated only in MGDG, but palmitate and oleate at the sn-I position were desaturated in MGDG as well as in DGDG. Apparently, palmitate desaturase reacts with sn-1 palmitate in either galactolipid, but does not react with the sn-2 fatty acid of DGDG. These results demonstrate that isolated spinach chloroplasts can synthesize and desaturate prokaryotic MGDG and DGDG. The finally accumulating molecular species, MGDG(18:3/16:3) and DGDG(18:3/16:0), are made by the chloroplasts in proportions similar to those found in leaves. Biosynthesis of prokaryotic MGDG and DGDG has been measured in vivo by the labeling of leaves from 16:3 plants with ['4C]acetate (4, 26, 29). In de novo-made MGDG, both C16 and C18 fatty acids were labeled and both were gradually desaturated to trienoic fatty acids. Desaturation of newly made DGDG, however, was limited to its labeled C18 fatty acids, suggesting a different action of the desaturases on MGDG and DGDG. Strong evidence that desaturation of MGDG fatty acids, indeed, proceeds as a lipid-linked process has been provided by Sato et al. (25) for the blue-green alga Anabaena variabilis.Following the initial study of galactolipid desaturation in vitro by Roughan et al. (22), it was confirmed recently that isolated spinach chloroplasts convert de novo-made MGDG(18:1/16:0) to ultimately MGDG(18:3/16:3) (1,15). In the present paper, we extend this work and report for the first time the synthesis of prokaryotic DGDG(18:1/16:0) and its subsequent desaturation in isolated chloroplasts. The rates observed were low, but are consistent with the small proportions of prokaryotic DGDG that were found in the leaves of sixteen 16:3 plants. A scheme is proposed for the regulation and interdependence of galactolipid synthesis in 16:3 plants, which tries to explain the typical differences in content and fatty acid composition between the major molecular species of MGDG and DGDG. 3Abbreviat...