1 Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke W, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6, Canada.
2 Centre for Biological Applications of Mass Spectrometry, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke W, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6, Canada.

A small genome in chloroplasts encodes many of the polypeptide subunits of the photosynthetic electron transport complexes embedded in the membranes of thylakoid vesicles in the chloroplast stroma and synthesized by ribosomes of the bacterial-like genetic system of this semiautonomous organelle. While thylakoid membranes are sites of translation, evidence in the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii supports translation on non-canonical membranes in a discrete translation-zone in the chloroplast. To characterize the membranous platforms for translation and the biogenesis of thylakoid membranes, we profiled membranes during chloroplast development, using the yellow-in-the-dark1 mutant, and carried out proteomic analyses on two membrane types proposed previously to support translation in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii: "low-density membrane" (LDM) and "chloroplast translation membrane" (CTM). The results support roles of LDM and CTM in preliminary and ongoing stages of translation, respectively. Proteomics, immunoprecipitation and transmission electron microscopy results support connections of these membranous platforms and a chloroplast envelope domain bound by cytoplasmic ribosomes. Our results contribute to a model of photosynthesis complex biogenesis in a spatiotemporal "assembly line" involving LDM and CTM as sequential stages leading to photosynthetic thylakoid membranes.