This is an accurate method to assess the rate of chlorophyll biosynthesis in vivo in cyanobacteria. Given that labeled glutamate is used as the very early precursor of chlorophyll together with a short pulse of labeling (30 min), this method provides information about the metabolic flow through the whole chlorophyll biosynthetic pathway on a short timescale.
Sobotka, R., Kořený, L., Kopečná, J. and Oborník, M. (2012). Radiolabeling of Chlorophyll by [14C]Glutamic Acid in vivo and Relative Quantification of Labeled Chlorophyll by Using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). Bio-protocol 2(16): e249. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.249.