Small-angle neutron scattering study of the ultrastructure of chloroplast thylakoid membranes - periodicity and structural flexibility of the stroma lamellae.

The multilamellar organization of freshly isolated spinach and pea chloroplast thylakoid membranes was studied using small-angle neutron scattering. A broad peak at ~0.02Å(-1) is ascribed to diffraction from domains of ordered, unappressed stroma lamellae, revealing a repeat distance of 294ű7Å in spinach and 345ű11Å in pea.

Packing properties of 1-alkanols and alkanes in a phospholipid membrane.

We have used vibrating tube densitometry to investigate the packing properties of four alkanes and a homologous series of ten alcohols in fluid-phase membranes of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC). It was found that the volume change of transferring these compounds from their pure states into the membrane, DeltaV(m)(pure-->mem), was positive for small (C4-C6) 1-alkanols while it was negative for larger alcohols and all alkanes. The magnitude of DeltaV(m)(pure-->mem) ranged from about +4 cm3/mol for alcohols with an alkyl chain about half the length of the fatty acids of DMPC, to -10 to -15 cm3/mol for the alkanes and long chain alcohols.