Effect of Aging on the Fluorescence Lifetime of Chloroplasts

Photosynthesis, Fluorescence Lifetimes, Aging, Sonicated Chloroplasts The lifetime of fluorescence from pea chloroplasts at room temperature increases with age. The ratio of the fluorescence intensities of the slow to fast decay components, decreases with age of the chloroplasts. This observation can account for the wide range of lifetimes reported in the literature. The variability of biological material (cultured and prepared with similar procedures) introduces considerable variation in the fluorescence lifetimes measured with pea chloroplasts. Sonication of chloroplasts results in an increase in both the fast and slow fluorescence lifetimes.