Rigid versus Flexible Protein Matrix: Light-Harvesting Complex II Exhibits a Temperature-Dependent Phonon Spectral Density

Dynamics-function correlations are usually inferred when molecular mobility and protein function are simultaneously impaired at characteristic temperatures or hydration levels. In this sense, excitation energy transfer in the photosynthetic light-harvesting complex II (LHC II) is an untypical example because it remains fully functional even at cryogenic temperatures relying mainly on interactions of electronic states with protein vibrations. Here, we study the vibrational and conformational protein dynamics of monomeric and trimeric LHC II from spinach using inelastic neutron scattering (INS) in the temperature range of 20-305 K. INS spectra of trimeric LHC II reveal a distinct vibrational …