Chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments of individual leaves of both et et and normal seedlings (light grown 1 w/m 2 at 25 C) have been investigated in order to see whether these values agree with the whole seedling data. The 6-day old seedlings, under our experimental conditions, develop only two leaves whereas 10-day old seedlings show three leaves. These are designated as first, second and third leaf from the base, i.e., the top leaf is the third leaf and the bottom one (the oldest) is the first leaf. chl a/chl b and chl/carotenoid ratios have also been computed. Although the overall pattern of these ratios remains more or less the same among the corresponding leaves of mutant and normal, the absolute values of these pigments differ within and also between seedlings. Comparatively the mutant shows reduced levels of chlorophyll and carotenoids. A significantly greater variability and error was observed in individual leaf experiments compared to that of whole seedlings. The factors that contribute to this error include variation in the leaf size, overall physiological condition of the seedlings, etc. On the other hand, leaves of 10-day-old seedlings show no significant differences in any of the parameters studied. Further studies on the thylakoid membrane proteins, including chlorophyll-protein complexes, using SDS-PAGE and HPLC procedures are in progress.

S. Kumari, H. G. Sangeetha and A. R. Reddy

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