Thylakoid/Gallery

Links to online images of thylakoids

The Internet has numerous images of thylakoids, the following of particular instructive value. Right-click these links and open in new tab in order to save this page's current tab for rapid return here to click on another link:

• Schematic of isolated thylakoids, 3D image
  • Equivalent to low-power image, shows relationship of granum thylakoids and stromal thylakoids (lamellae).

• Schematic of isolated thylakoid granum with associated membrane components, annotated
  • Schematic cross-section of a granum thylakoid disk, the uppermost and lowermost thylakoids are stromal thylakoids (lamellae), containing photosystem I. The granum thylakoids contain photosystem II, as shown. The schematic does not show how the lumens of the granum thylakoids are interconnected, orinterconnected with the stromal thylakoids, forming one continuous lumen for the entire thylakoid network.

• 3D-landscape image of a thylakoid membrane at the molecular level, comparing differences and similarities with a mitochondrial membrane
  • Schematic, edge-on views, slightly skewed to reveal part of membrane surface.

• Annotated image of the structure of a plant leaf, a chloroplast, and a stack of thylakoid disks (a granum)

• Chloroplast, thylakoids, and functional relations to photosynthesis
  • A very basic schematic of thylakoids in relation to chloroplasts and photosynthesis.

• Tomographic Sections of a Chloroplast
  • (A) A low magnification overview. Grana (G) are interconnected by multiple stroma thylakoids (SL).(B) A close-up of a granum-stroma assembly. The stroma lamellae, shown in different colors, intersect the granum body in multiple, approximately parallel, planes.(C) Tomographic slice of a granum-stroma lamellae ensemble taken in a direction roughly parallel to the plane of the grana layers.

• Plant Cell Biology on DVD: Sample Screens Viewable Online.
  • To view multiple images of chloroplast and thylakoid ultrastructure, click each of the links (n=14) under the section labelled 'Plastids'.

• Photosynthesis (Light): The Movie.
  • An animated and narrated movie of the photosynthesis process in the thylakoid membrane. A superb virtual cell rendition of the major meolecular events occurring in the thylakoid membranes.
  • From the Virtual Cell Animation Collection of the Molecular & Cellular Biology Education Project, an initiative of the North Dakota State University (NDSU) World Wide Web Instructional Committee (WWWIC).

• Photosynthesis II: The Movie.
  • An animated and narrated movie of the photosynthesis process in photosystem II in the thylakoid membrane. A superb virtual cell rendition of the major physicochemical events occurring in the thylakoid membrane photosynthesis II complex.
  • From the Virtual Cell Animation Collection of the Molecular & Cellular Biology Education Project, an initiative of the North Dakota State University (NDSU) World Wide Web Instructional Committee (WWWIC).

• Photosynthesis: Electron flow and the Hill reaction.
  • Four informative diagrams summarizing electron flow dynamics in the thylakoid membranes during photosynthesis.

• The thylakoid membranes and their domains, and the dynamics of the photosynthetic electron-flow machinery (Figure 3).
  • From: From light to life: an interdisciplinary journey into photosynthetic activity. Workshop on Molecular Genetics and Biophysical Aspects of Photosynthesis. Giovanni Finazzi, Fabrice Rappaport & Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont. (2003) EMBO reports 4:752-756.
  • Very instructive schematic.