Dataset Information

Spectroscopic elucidation of uncoupled transition energies in the major photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, LHCII.

ABSTRACT: Electrostatic couplings between chromophores in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, and interactions of pigments with the surrounding protein environment, produce a complicated energy landscape of delocalized excited states. The resultant electronic structure absorbs light and gives rise to energy transfer steps that direct the excitation toward a site of charge separation with near unity quantum efficiency. Knowledge of the transition energies of the uncoupled chromophores is required to describe how the wave functions of the individual pigments combine to form this manifold of delocalized excited states that effectively harvests light energy. In an investigation of the major light-harvesting complex of photosystem II (LHCII), we develop a method based on polarized 2D electronic spectroscopy to experimentally access the energies of the S(0)-S(1) transitions in the chromophore site basis. Rotating the linear polarization of the incident laser pulses reveals previously hidden off-diagonal features. We exploit the polarization dependence of energy transfer peaks to find the angles between the excited state transition dipole moments. We show that these angles provide a spectroscopic method to directly inform on the relationship between the delocalized excitons and the individual chlorophylls through the site energies of the uncoupled chromophores.

SUBMITTER: Schlau-Cohen GS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2922122 | biostudies-other | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Spectroscopic elucidation of uncoupled transition energies in the major photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, LHCII.

Schlau-Cohen Gabriela S GS Calhoun Tessa R TR Ginsberg Naomi S NS Ballottari Matteo M Bassi Roberto R Fleming Graham R GR

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20100709 30

Electrostatic couplings between chromophores in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, and interactions of pigments with the surrounding protein environment, produce a complicated energy landscape of delocalized excited states. The resultant electronic structure absorbs light and gives rise to energy transfer steps that direct the excitation toward a site of charge separation with near unity quantum efficiency. Knowledge of the transition energies of the uncoupled chromophores is required to ...[more]

PMID: 20622154

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Project description:BackgroundPhotosynthetic light-harvesting proteins are the mechanism by which energy enters the marine ecosystem. The dominant prokaryotic photoautotrophs are the cyanobacterial genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus that are defined by two distinct light-harvesting systems, chlorophyll-bound protein complexes or phycobilin-bound protein complexes, respectively. Here, we use the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) Project as a unique and powerful tool to analyze the environmental diversity of photosynthetic light-harvesting genes in relation to available metadata including geographical location and physical and chemical environmental parameters.MethodsAll light-harvesting gene fragments and their metadata were obtained from the GOS database, aligned using ClustalX and classified phylogenetically. Each sequence has a name indicative of its geographic location; subsequent biogeographical analysis was performed by correlating light-harvesting gene budgets for each GOS station with surface chlorophyll concentration.Conclusion/significanceUsing the GOS data, we have mapped the biogeography of light-harvesting genes in marine cyanobacteria on ocean-basin scales and show that an environmental gradient exists in which chlorophyll concentration is correlated to diversity of light-harvesting systems. Three functionally distinct types of light-harvesting genes are defined: (1) the phycobilisome (PBS) genes of Synechococcus; (2) the pcb genes of Prochlorococcus; and (3) the iron-stress-induced (isiA) genes present in some marine Synechococcus. At low chlorophyll concentrations, where nutrients are limited, the Pcb-type light-harvesting system shows greater genetic diversity; whereas at high chlorophyll concentrations, where nutrients are abundant, the PBS-type light-harvesting system shows higher genetic diversity. We interpret this as an environmental selection of specific photosynthetic strategy. Importantly, the unique light-harvesting system isiA is found in the iron-limited, high-nutrient low-chlorophyll region of the equatorial Pacific. This observation demonstrates the ecological importance of isiA genes in enabling marine Synechococcus to acclimate to iron limitation and suggests that the presence of this gene can be a natural biomarker for iron limitation in oceanic environments.

Dataset Information

Spectroscopic elucidation of uncoupled transition energies in the major photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, LHCII.

Publications

Spectroscopic elucidation of uncoupled transition energies in the major photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, LHCII.

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