Functional rearrangement of the light-harvesting antenna upon state transitions in a green alga

AbstractState transitions in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii serve to balance excitation energy transfer to photosystem I (PSI) and to photosystem II (PSII) and possibly play a role as a photoprotective mechanism. Thus, light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) can switch between the photosystems consequently transferring more excitation energy to PSII (state 1) or to PSI (state 2) or can end up in LHCII-only domains. In this study, low-temperature (77 K) steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence measured on intact cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii shows that independently of the state excitation energy transfer from LHCII to PSI or to PSII occurs on two main timescales of <15 ps and …