Etioplasts of 4.5-day-old dark-grown barley synthesize and accumulate most of the membrane and nearly all the soluble polypeptides of mature chloroplasts of light-grown seedlings. Etioplasts do not synthesize a limited set of chloroplast-encoded polypeptides which are major constituents of chloroplast thylakoid membranes: two chlorophyll apoproteins of photosystem I (68 and 65 kDa), two chlorophyll apoproteins of photosystem II (47 and 43 kDa), and a 32-kDa polypeptide which has now been identified as the psbA gene product. Throughout development in the dark, etioplasts were unable to synthesize the chlorophyll apoproteins of photosystem I and II or the psbA gene product despite the presence of significant transcript levels for psbA and psaA-psaB (encode for photosystem I chlorophyll apoproteins). Light was not required for the synthesis of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large subunit with the highest rate of large subunit synthesis occurring in young dark-grown seedlings. Illumination of 4.5-day-old dark-grown barley rapidly induced the synthesis of the chlorophyll apoproteins and the psbA gene product at a time when transcript levels for psbA and psaA-psaB did not increase appreciably. Therefore, during the early stages of light-induced development the synthesis of the chlorophyll apoproteins of photosystem I and psbA gene product is regulated at the translational level. With continued chloroplast development in the light, the synthesis of the chlorophyll apoproteins of photosystem I and II decline rapidly as does the synthesis of the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase. The decline in polypeptide synthesis correlated with a decline in rbcL and psaA-psaB transcript levels and a light-dependent decline in plastid rRNA content. In contrast, synthesis of the psbA gene product was maintained throughout light-induced chloroplast development which correlated with the maintenance of psbA transcript levels. However, light is not strictly required for psbA transcript accumulation since psbA transcript levels increased slightly with continued plastid development in dark-grown seedlings.