Occurrence of a mixture of ketocarotenoids in chloroplast plastoglobules of young leaflets of a Cycad

Carotenoid composition and its chemotaxonomic significance in leaves of ten species of the genus Ceratozamia (Cycads)

“…The very low levels of carotenes at the first sampling stage could explain this situation (unpublished data) and the peculiar morphological features of differentiating chloroplasts in C. fuscoviridis seem to support this hypothesis (Morassi Bonzi et al, 1992Bonzi et al, , 1996.…”

“…It was not possible to sample unexpanded leaves (1.5-3 cm long, as in Morassi Bonzi et al, 1996). The leaflets of the first stages were poorly expanded (ca.…”

“…Just before the first stage of leaf development (small expanded leaflets), as identified in this study for sampling, at least two pre-stages also occur: when the prolamellar body is about to disgregate and when the thylakoidal apparatus begins to develop with yet unexpanded leaflets (Morassi Bonzi et al, 1996).…”

“…They were not in the thylakoidal membranes but in very electrondense plastoglobules (PGLs) of the stroma, which, in the case of leaflets of C. fuscoviridis, are found closely packed around the prolamellar body. Therefore, the very young leaflets of the pinnate leaf show a transitory dark red brown coloration that is evidently correlated with the presence of these peculiar plastoglobules because both of them progressively disappear while the development of the thylakoidal system proceeds at the same rate of leaflet expansion (Morassi Bonzi et al, 1992Bonzi et al, , 1996.…”

Quantitative variations of individual carotenoids in relationship with the leaflet development of six species of the genus Ceratozamia (Cycads)

“…The pre-stages were related to desegregation of the prolamellar body and to the early development of thylakoidal apparatus in yet unexpanded leaflets (see Fig. 1a Morassi Bonzi et al, 1996;Cardini and Morassi Bonzi, 2005).…”