Issue 24, 2011

Reconstitution of bacterial photosynthetic unit in a lipid bilayer studied by single-molecule spectroscopy at 5 K

Abstract

As a model of photosynthetic unit (PSU), self-assembled aggregates of pigment–protein complexes from photosynthetic bacteria were prepared in a lipid bilayer by reconstitution of the light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complex and light-harvesting 1–reaction center (LH1–RC) complex through detergent removal of their micelles in the presence of lipids. By performing polarization-controlled fluorescence and fluorescence-excitation spectroscopy on single aggregates at a temperature of 5 K, the composition of individual aggregates was determined and excitation energy transfer (EET) between constituent complexes was observed. LH2 and LH1–RC from a bacterium, Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides, were found to form a trimeric aggregate in which EET takes place from one LH2 to two LH1–RCs. In contrast, a heterodimer of LH2 and LH1–RC in which EET works was found to assemble from a combination of complexes of different bacterial species, that is, LH2 from Rb. sphaeroides and LH1–RC from Rhodopseudomonas (Rps.) palustris.

Graphical abstract: Reconstitution of bacterial photosynthetic unit in a lipid bilayer studied by single-molecule spectroscopy at 5 K

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Jan 2011
Accepted
20 Apr 2011
First published
19 May 2011

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011,13, 11615-11619

Reconstitution of bacterial photosynthetic unit in a lipid bilayer studied by single-molecule spectroscopy at 5 K

D. Uchiyama, H. Oikawa, K. Otomo, M. Nango, T. Dewa, S. Fujiyoshi and M. Matsushita, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 11615 DOI: 10.1039/C1CP20172G

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