The dependency of proton extrusion in the light on the developmental stage of the photosynthetic apparatus in Rhodospirillum rubrum.

The rate of proton extrusion by whole cells of Rhodospirillum rubrum is constant on a bacteriochlorophyll basis only above cellular bacteriochlorophyll concentrations of about 10 nmol bacteriochlorophyll per mg cell protein. At specific bacteriochlorophyll cellular levels below this value, the rate of proton extrusion per bacteriochlorophyll increases. Correspondingly, membrane preparations isolated from these cells exhibit increases in the rate of proton uptake on a pigment basis. Concomitant with variations in the rates of proton extrusion by whole cells, light energy fluxes for saturating this process also vary. A fair proportionality between maximum rates of proton extrusion of whole cells and the bacteriochlorophyll cellular levels above 10 nmol per mg protein indicates that the degree of continuity of intracytoplasmic membranes and of the cytoplasmic membrane remains largely constant.