Hi,
This is a great idea for a project as there are scientists working now on how to harness the photosynthetic power of chloroplasts. But, the problem is exactly as you said—how can functional chloroplasts be isolated?
I took a look at the two websites you linked to in your post, and the procedure in the second one would be the best for isolating chloroplasts [cp’s] with a minimum of damage to the organelles. I would not use acetone as it is toxic and disrupts membranes. Cp’s have membrane structures containing the photosynthetic enzymes and breaking them might fragment the photosystem.
Whether or not isolated spinach cp’s would still be able to use light and CO2 to make oxygen and sugars and starch I don’t know. I had thought about trying to make a photosynthetic battery using cp’s, but from what I have read so far it looks like cp’s are too fragile to last for very long. They can function for a couple of hours maybe after separating them from the cytoplasm of a cell. What were you thinking of doing with the cp’s after you isolated them?
The method for studying cp photosynthesis is called the Hill reaction. There is a lot of information about this on the web. Here’s a good reference:
http://openwetware.org/wiki/BISC110:_Se ... l_Reaction
In order to do this project you are going to need to work in a well-equipped lab with supervision. Do you have access to a lab and someone to help you?
Let us know more about what you are thinking about doing with the chloroplasts and hopefully we can help you plan a good and doable project.
Sybee
