Chlorophyll Assay

Photosynthetic pigments in plants comprise of chlorophylls a and b, which mainly capture light in the antenna complex via photosystem II, with subsequent electron transport. The two chlorophylls differ only at position 3 (ring B): chlorophyll a contains a methyl group at this position, whereas chlorophyll b contains an aldehyde group. Other pigments such as carotenoids are also found in plants and are considered as accessory components in the photosynthetic complex by providing photoprotection and stability of proteins present in the photosystem. To measure the chlorophyll content, we used a modified protocol (Arnon, 1949; Mochizuki et al., 2001). Extraction and determination of chlorophyll and carotenoid content was performed according to the method of Arnon (1949).