Ultrastructural organization of chloroplast thylakoids of the green alga Oocystis marssonii.

Intact cells of "Oocystis marssonii" were thin sectioned and freeze-etched, using conventional and double-recovery techniques. Thylakoids extend the length of the single chloroplast and occur in stacks of three to five. The peripheral thylakoids in a stack often alternate between adjacent stacks. Interpretation of double-recovery results suggests that membranes in unstacked regions are asymmetrical, with one face smooth and the matching face covered with closely packed 85-90 A diameter particles. Adjacent membranes in stacked regions evidently share 170 A diameter particles, and either membrane in a stacked region may fracture. The two fracture planes thus made possible may expose nearly entire 170 A particles or only the upper portion of such particles, creating in the latter case images of 125-135 A diameter particles. Fracture planes in all cases appear to occur through the interior of the membrane, in the plane between the hydrophobic ends of the lipid bilayer proposed in numerous membrane models.