Lil3 assembles as chlorophyll-binding protein complex during deetiolation.

Dark-grown angiosperm seedlings are etiolated and devoid of chlorophyll. Deetiolation is triggered by light leading to chlorophyll dependent accumulation of the photosynthetic machinery. The transfer of chlorophyll to the chlorophyll-binding proteins is still unclear. We demonstrate here that upon illumination of dark-grown barley seedlings, two new pigment-binding protein complexes are de novo accumulated. Pigments bound to both complexes are identified as chlorophyll a and protochlorophyll a. By auto-fluorescence tracking and mass spectrometry, we show that exclusively Lil3 is the pigment-binding complex subunit in both complexes.