Senescent and early diagenetic changes in chlorophyll

Aged unispecific cultures and environmental samples have been analyzed using HPLC-PDA in order to reveal chlorophyll-a degradation processes. Unispecific aging studies showed that alteration of chlorophyll occurred during senescence, and revealed that chlorophyll-a breakdown differs amongst various groups (i.e. species specificity). Sediment trap and sediment studies reveal that a variety of precursor chlorophyll-a derivatives are present, and that senescence and geochemistry, per se, overlap strongly. Many of the reactions in the Treibs' scheme occur before and during deposition. Intracellular senescence and diagenetic pathways have been examined in this work. Comparison of aged unispecific cultures and environmental samples strongly suggests major in puts from the senescence pathway. The results further supports the concept "pyro" reaction (loss of the carbomethoxy group) fates chlorophyll diagenesis towards true DPEP compounds.