Eur. Phys. J. E (2013) 36: 69
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2013-13069-0

Regular Article

Kinetics of structural reorganizations in multilamellar photosynthetic membranes monitored by small-angle neutron scattering

¹⁹⁸⁸³ Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
²⁹⁸⁸³ Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, POB 49, H-1525, Budapest, Hungary
³⁹⁸⁸³ Institut Laue-Langevin, BP 156, F-38042, Grenoble, France
⁴⁹⁸⁸³ Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, POB 521, H-6701, Szeged, Hungary
⁵⁹⁸⁸³ UFR PhITEM, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble I, BP 53, F-38041, Grenoble, France
⁶⁹⁸⁸³ Institut de Biologie Structurale Jean Pierre Ebel CEA-CNRS-UJF, F-38027, Grenoble, France
⁷⁹⁸⁸³ IMFUFA, Department of Science, Systems and Models, Roskilde University, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark

^* e-mail: gergely.nagy@psi.ch
^** e-mail: gyozo@brc.hu

Received: 12 December 2012
Revised: 22 March 2013
Accepted: 26 March 2013
Published online: 11 July 2013

Abstract

We demonstrate the power of time-resolved small-angle neutron scattering experiments for the investigation of the structure and structural reorganizations of multilamellar photosynthetic membranes. In addition to briefly summarizing our results on thylakoid membranes isolated from higher plants and in unicellular organisms, we discuss the advantages and technical and methodological limitations of time-resolved SANS. We present a detailed and more systematical investigation of the kinetics of light-induced structural reorganizations in isolated spinach thylakoid membranes, which show how changes in the repeat distance and in the long-range order of the multilamellar membranes can be followed with a time resolution of seconds. We also present data from comparative measurements performed on thylakoid membranes isolated from tobacco.