Chlorophyll fluorescence changes at high temperatures induced by linear heating of greening barley leaves.

A relative decrease of the high temperature part (above 60°C) of the chlorophyll fluorescence temperature curve during 3 h to 10 h greening period of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaves was found to be concomitant to a decrease of Chl alb ratio and to a gradual increase of LHCP/core ratio found by electrophoresis and the ratio of granal to total length of thylakoid membranes. It is suggested that the high temperature part of the fluorescence temperature curve depends inversely on the relative amount of LHC II in thylakoid membranes.

Model studies of chlorophyll fluorescence reabsorption at chloroplast level under different exciting conditions.

A theoretical model is presented describing the distortion of chlorophyll fluorescence spectra of a chloroplast or a group of chloroplasts by the effect of fluorescence reabsorption. Model calculations using the experimental data show that the primary reabsorption effect occurs already within one chloroplast and the spectral distortion depends significantly on the excitation regime of the chloroplast. A theoretical dependence of the distortion function, defined as a change in the F(685)/F(735) fluorescence band ratio, on the mean chlorophyll concentration in a chloroplast is predicted for different light excitation regimes. The distortion of measured chlorophyll fluorescence spectra at 77 K of chloroplast suspension adsorbed on filter papers of two strongly different diffusive reflectivities and at different mean chlorophyll concentrations are discussed with the help of the presented theory.

Monoclonal antibodies suitable for plum pox virus determination.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to plum pox virus (PPV) were obtained after immunization of BALB/c mice with purified PPV-W isolate. Spleen cells from a mouse showing a high serum titer were used for fusion with Sp2/0-Ag14 myeloma cells. Culture supernatants were screened for specific antibody production against PPV-W isolate using indirect ELISA. A total of six stable hybridoma lines producing MAbs of IgG class were obtained. All four PPV isolates tested (W, A, D and M) can be distinguished by these MAbs. Two highly efficient antibodies were chosen for practical purposes, and their applicability in PPV diagnostics has been studied since 1989 in parallel with polyclonal antibodies and commercial kits (Boehringer, Bioreba). The experiments have proven comparable sensitivity with a detection limit ranging between 10 and 50 ng of virus per ml sample. In routine diagnostics of plums, peaches and apricots our MAbs ranked at least as high as the commercial kits.