Function and evolution of grana

Abstract

Chloroplasts are descended from cyanobacteria, and they retain many features of the cyanobacterial photosynthetic apparatus. However, land-plant chloroplasts have a strikingly different thylakoid membrane organization to that of cyanobacteria. Usually the two photosystems are laterally segregated; Photosystem II is concentrated in complex stacked-membrane structures known as grana. The function of grana has long been debated. Recent studies on membrane organization in chloroplasts, cyanobacteria and purple bacteria now offer a new perspective. I argue that grana allow the presence of a large light-harvesting antenna for Photosystem II, without excessively restricting electron transport. Other organisms solve this problem in different ways. Land plants evolved from macroalgae that were adapted to high light conditions; they evolved grana as a new solution to the problem of efficient photosynthesis in shade.