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Occurrence of a Crystalline Inclusion in the Chloroplasts of Macadamia Leaves

Abstract

PLANT cells are known to contain several types of crystals1 and crystal-containing bodies2–5, but there are only a few reports in the literature of crystalline structures in chloroplasts. Price, Martinez and Warmke6 found a crystalline inclusion in chloroplasts of healthy and virus-infected coconut palms. The inclusion was rhomboidal, consisting of particles with a maximum diameter of 12 mµ which were tightly packed in a hexagonal pattern. The crystal was contained in a single unit membrane within the chloroplast. Engelbrecht and Esau7 described, in chloroplasts of virus-infected sugar beet, an angularinclusion with parallel-linear and cross-hatched substructural patterns. Sun8 reported that in the last stages of virus-induced degeneration of Abutilon chloroplasts, a dense crystal may form inside the chloroplast. His micrographs do not, however, offer clear evidence that the crystals are within the chloroplasts. The crystals in Abutilon appeared as rhombic bodies composed of parallel electron-dense lines of 80 Å spacing.

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PRICE, J., THOMSON, W. Occurrence of a Crystalline Inclusion in the Chloroplasts of Macadamia Leaves. Nature 214, 1148–1149 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2141148a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2141148a0

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