title: Spectroscopic studies of phycobilisome subcore preparations lacking key core chromophores: assignment of excited state energies to the Lcm, beta 18 and alpha AP-B chromophores.
abstract: Chromophore absorption and emission characteristics of the alpha AP-B, beta 18 and Lcm (large core-membrane linker) chromopeptides within the phycobilisome core are investigated using genetically engineered strains of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. Steady-state and time-resolved emission were used to examine energy transfer in subcore preparations from the wild-type organism and two mutants. Low-temperature (77 K) emission spectra were also measured for intact phycobilisomes from the wild-type and five mutant strains. Mutants retaining either the alpha AP-B subunit or the unaltered Lcm chromophore resulted in only small changes in the low-temperature emission spectra, while retention of only the beta 18 subunit resulted in blue-shifted emission spectra. The Lcm chromophore has a room-temperature absorption maximum at 675 nm. In phycobilisomes at 77 K the alpha AP-B and Lcm chromophores emit at 682-683 nm, and they are the best candidates for long-wavelength emitters also at room temperature. Overlap of these emission spectra with the absorption of chlorophyll a in the associated thylakoid membrane plays a significant role in excitation transfer from the antenna complexes in cyanobacteria.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Gindt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D045524:Phycobilisomes; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D045524:Phycobilisomes; D010940:Plant Proteins; C052988:allophycocyanin anchor protein, Synechocystis