Abstract
The effects of ozone on chloroplast development in barley seedlings during greening was investigated based on ultrastructural changes in the chloroplasts and band pattern changes in the chloroplast thylakoid membrane proteins. In this analysis of the chloroplast thylakoid membrane thylakoid protein band pattern by SDS-PAGE, none of the 24-hour greening bands included were clearer than the control. This means that the ozone treatment produced a dealy in chloroplast development and decreased the amount of thylakoid membrane proteins. LHC II chloroplast band of developing barley seedlings treated with 0.5 and 1.0 ppm ozone during the last 4 hours of the 24-hour greening period was weaker than the other bands. This result indicates that ozone affects the LHC II protein complex of the chloroplast thylakoid membrane. When investigating the ultastructural changes in ozone-treated chloroplast, the main site affected by 0.5 ppm ozone was the chloroplast grana, thereby explaining the delayed chloroplast development during the early phase of greening. In addition, there was also a structural change in the stromal grana of the ozone treated chloroplast during the middle phase of greening. The effects of ozone on the chloroplast of barley seedlings during the last phase of 48-hour greening were more functionally inhibiting than structural changes.