Search results for "Light-harvesting complex"
showing 10 items of 44 documents
Silica Entrapment for Significantly Stabilized, Energy-Conducting Light-Harvesting Complex (LHCII)
2014
The major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b complex (LHCII) of the photosynthetic apparatus in green plants consists of a membrane protein and numerous noncovalently bound pigments that make up about one-third of the molecular mass of the pigment-protein complex. Due to this high pigment density, LHCII is potentially interesting as a light-harvesting component in synthetic constructs. However, for such applications its stability needs to be significantly improved. In this work, LHCII was dramatically stabilized by enclosing it within polymerizing colloidal silica. The entrapped LHCII stayed functional at 50 °C for up to 24 h instead of a few minutes in detergent solution and clearly showed e…
The concentration of Cytochrome f and P700 in chlorophyll-deficient mutants of Chlorella fusca
1977
The ratio of Chlorophyll: Cytochrome f and of Chlorophyll: P700 (reaction center pigment in photosystem I) is essentially lower in chlorophyll-deficient mutants than in the normal green strain. On a dry weight basis, the mutants have the same or a higher content of redox enzymes than the normal form. The size of the photosynthetic unit of the mutants is 4 to 7 times smaller than that of the normal strains, due mainly to a deficiency of the light-harvesting chlorophyll-protein complex.
Insertion of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein into the thylakoid
2000
The major light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (Lhcb1,2) of photosystem II is inserted into the thylakoid via the signal recognition particle dependent pathway. However, the mechanism by which the protein enters the membrane is at this time unknown. In order to define some topographical restrictions for this process, we constructed several recombinant derivatives of Lhcb1 carrying hexahistidine tags at either protein terminus or in the stromal loop domain. Additionally, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was fused to either terminus. None of the modifications significantly impair the pigment-binding properties of the protein in the in vitro reconstitution of LHCII. With the excepti…
Bio serves nano: biological light-harvesting complex as energy donor for semiconductor quantum dots.
2012
Light-harvesting complex (LHCII) of the photosynthetic apparatus in plants is attached to type-II core-shell CdTe/CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals (quantum dots, QD) exhibiting an absorption band at 710 nm and carrying a dihydrolipoic acid coating for water solubility. LHCII stays functional upon binding to the QD surface and enhances the light utilization of the QDs significantly, similar to its light-harvesting function in photosynthesis. Electronic excitation energy transfer of about 50% efficiency is shown by donor (LHCII) fluorescence quenching as well as sensitized acceptor (QD) emission and corroborated by time-resolved fluorescence measurements. The energy transfer efficiency is commensurable …
Reconstitution of Light-Harvesting Complexes from Chlorella fusca (Chlorophyceae) and Mantoniella squamata (Prasinophyceae)
1993
Abstract Reconstitution experiments of light-harvesting complexes were performed with the green alga Chlorella fusca and the chlorophyll c-containing prasinophyte Mantoniella squamata using a modified method according to Plumley and Schmidt [Proc. N atl. Acad. Sei. U .S.A . 84, 146 -150 (1987)]. Changing the pigment supply quantitatively or qualitatively in the reconstitution mixture homologous and heterologous reconstitutes were obtained. In contrast to higher plants, light-harvesting polypeptides from green algae are able to bind the chlorophylls as well as the xanthophylls in different stoichiometries. Heterologous reconstitutes of M . squamata polypeptides give further evidence for a r…
Domain-specific Random Mutagenesis in Light Harvesting Chlorophyll a/b Protein (LHCII)
1998
In all photosynthesising organisms the presence of light harvesting complexes greatly enhances the efficiency of photosynthesis. The most abundant of these pigment binding complexes is the major light harvesting complex II (LHCII) of plants, associated with photosystem II. Its structure has largely been resolved to 3.4 A (1) showing light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (LHCP) with 12 chlorophyll (chl) and 2 xantophyll molecules, all non-covalently arranged around the three membrane spanning domains (MSD) and one amphipathic helix of LHCII. The functional significance of many amino acids in this structure is still unclear, particularly in those parts of the complex that are less …
Lhca5 interaction with plant photosystem I
2006
AbstractIn the outer antenna (LHCI) of higher plant photosystem I (PSI) four abundantly expressed light-harvesting protein of photosystem I (Lhca)-type proteins are organized in two heterodimeric domains (Lhca1/Lhca4 and Lhca2/Lhca3). Our cross-linking studies on PSI-LHCI preparations from wildtype Arabidopsis and pea plants indicate an exclusive interaction of the rarely expressed Lhca5 light-harvesting protein with LHCI in the Lhca2/Lhca3-site. In PSI particles with an altered LHCI composition Lhca5 assembles in the Lhca1/Lhca4 site, partly as a homodimer. This flexibility indicates a binding-competitive model for the LHCI assembly in plants regulated by molecular interactions of the Lhca…
Multiple Decay Mechanisms and 2D-UV Spectroscopic Fingerprints of Singlet Excited Solvated Adenine-Uracil Monophosphate
2016
The decay channels of singlet excited adenine uracil monophosphate (ApU) in water are studied with CASPT2//CASSCF:MM potential energy calculations and simulation of the 2D-UV spectroscopic fingerprints with the aim of elucidating the role of the different electronic states of the stacked conformer in the excited state dynamics. The adenine 1La state can decay without a barrier to a conical intersection with the ground state. In contrast, the adenine 1Lb and uracil S(U) states have minima that are separated from the intersections by sizeable barriers. Depending on the backbone conformation, the CT state can undergo inter-base hydrogen transfer and decay to the ground state through a conical …
The Existence of Chlorophyll c in the Chl b‐Containing, Light‐Harvesting Complex of the Green Alga Mantoniella squamata (Prasinophyceae)
1988
The prasinophycean alga Mantoniella contains, in addition to Chl a and b, at least a third green pigment which is functionally active in the light-harvesting antenna. This third Chl was isolated in order to elucidate its chemical structure. The absorption and fluorescence spectra were measured not only from the purified pigment but also from its pheophytin and its methylpheophorbide. The spectra were compared with those of authentic Chl c-1 and c-2, which were isolated from the diatom Nitzschia sp. and with Mg-DVPP (purified from Rhodobacter). The results show that the pigment from Mantoniella compares best with Chl c-1. In order to clarify the spectral data, Chl c-1 and c-2, Mg-DVPP, and t…