One of the most important scientific challenges of our time is to find answers and solutions for the various questions and problems about the energy consumption of humanity. Scientific studies on the utilization of renewable resources, especially of solar energy, gain more and more importance. In the Biosphere, solar energy conversion to chemical energy is performed by photosynthetic organisms. Photosynthesis, especially its different regulatory mechanisms is far from being understood. Thylakoid membranes possess a central role in photosynthesis. In the present thesis we investigate structural parameters of the thylakoid membranes, isolated from higher plants and in different algal cells, with small-angle neutron scattering, and the dynamics of isolated thylakoid membrane fragments with elastic incoherent neutron scattering. The presented results, in addition to providing clear evidence for the occurrence of small but well discernible membrane reorganizations in thylakoid membranes during photosynthesis, and for a transition in BBY membranes at physiological temperatures, also present example of possible application of neutron scattering for the investigation of in vivo biological samples.
