Investigation of the Dynamic Properties of the Lipid Layer of Intraplastid Membranes by Lipophilic Fluorescent Probes

The dynamic properties of the lipid layer of intraplastid membranes have been studied by analyzing the stationary and kinetic spectral polarization characteristics of the fluorescence of lipophilic probes of pyrene and diphenylhexatriene (DPH). Based on the data of the decay of the fluorescence anisotropy of pyrene, the value of the microviscosity of lipids in the membranes of prolamellar bodies (PLB) and protilakoids of etioplasts has been calculated. The pyrene molecules built into the membranes of etioplasts have a relatively high rotational mobility (stationary anisotropy r_s < 0.1). The DPH molecules rotate with difficulty in etioplast membranes (r_s > 0.3). After photoreduction of protochlorophyllide (Pd) in vivo, the rotation of the pyrene and DPH molecules in the membranes of prolamellar bodies becomes easier and this leads to a decrease in r_s. Illumination raised the degree of excimerization of the pyrene immersed into lipids (_exc = 337 nm), and the microsurrounding of the molecules of the probe in lipids became more hydropholic (the relationship between the vibronic maxima at 373 and 387 nm decrease). The set of data obtained points to a decrease in the microviscosity of the lipid layer of the membranes of prolamellar bodies as a result of illumination of sproutings.