Mode of Action of the Photocatalytic System in Organisms 617 



in a highly concentrated, closely packed aggregated form. The 'monomeric' 

 chlorophyll, associated with proteins and hpids, is in equilibrium with these 

 forms. In the deep-sea red algae, Phyllophora, we were able to detect [40] three 

 different types of chlorophyll packing in the granules (on the evidence of ab- 

 sorption spectra), with maxima at 690, 678 and 670 mn. 



The precise mechanism of participation of the different forms of pigment 

 in the elementary photoprocess is not yet clear. The presence of orderly arranged 

 forms of the pigments can result in electron migration at the triplet level state 

 [41] to monomer forms, which may take a direct part in the photochemical 

 reaction. 



The further development of autotrophic organisms evidently proceeds along 

 the lines of accumulation of large amounts of pigments absorbing practically the 

 entire visible part of the solar spectrum. 



The observations described above give support to the idea that the pigments 

 of primitive organisms were in the 'monomeric' active state adsorbed on lipo- 

 proteins. With the development of the capacity of organisms for the biosynthesis 

 and accumulation of pigments, orderly packing of the latter in highly concen- 

 trated state in granules began to predominate. The co-operation of pigments 

 and enzymes in chloroplast structures necessitated the development of an 

 elaborate organization, some of the features of which are visuahzed in modern 

 electron-microscopic pictures of ultra- thin sections. 



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