Abstract
The disassembly of Chl-protein complexes during dark-induced senescence (DIS) was investigated using detached third and fourthleaves of 21$\pm$1 day-old Arabidopsis thaliana. Although Chl content decreased linearly after 1 d, a significant decrease of photochemical effeciency (Fv/Fm) was observed after 2 d. In experiments using native green gel electrophoresis of Chl-protein complexes combined with additional two-dimensional SDS-PAGE analysis, we could observe the degradation of both photosystems after 2 d. Although light-harvesting complex(LHC) for PSI (LHCI) was degraded first in PSI complex, small PSII apoproteins including CP47/CP43 and D1/D2 apoproteins were degraded first in PSII complexes. LHC for PSII (LHCII) trimers were stable until 4 d. The level of LHCII monomers was increased until 3 and decreased thereafter, resulting in the increase of free pigments. These results suggest that the disassembly process of PSI is different from that of PSII.