Kinetics of the plastoquinone pool oxidation following illumination

The oxidation of the PQ-pool after illumination with 50 or 500 μmol quanta m−2 s−1 was measured in isolated thylakoids as the increase in ΔA263, i.e., as the appearance of PQ. While it was not observed under anaerobic conditions, under aerobic conditions it was biphasic. The first faster phase constituted 26% or 44% of total reappearance of PQ, after weak or strong light respectively. The dependence on oxygen presence as well as the correlation with the rate of oxygen consumption led to conclusion that this phase represents the appearance of PQ from PQ− produced in the course of PQH2 oxidation by superoxide accumulated in the light within the membrane.