title: Pathways for energy transfer in the core light-harvesting complexes CP43 and CP47 of photosystem II.
abstract: The pigment-protein complexes CP43 and CP47 transfer excitation energy from the peripheral antenna of photosystem II toward the photochemical reaction center. We measured the excitation dynamics of the chlorophylls in isolated CP43 and CP47 complexes at 77 K by time-resolved absorbance-difference and fluorescence spectroscopy. The spectral relaxation appeared to occur with rates of 0.2-0.4 ps and 2-3 ps in both complexes, whereas an additional relaxation of 17 ps was observed only in CP47. Using the 3.8-A crystal structure of the photosystem II core complex from Synechococcus elongatus (A. Zouni, H.-T. Witt, J. Kern, P. Fromme, N. Krauss, W. Saenger, and P. Orth, 2001, Nature, 409:739-743), excitation energy transfer kinetics were calculated and a Monte Carlo simulation of the absorption spectra was performed. In both complexes, the rate of 0.2-0.4 ps can be ascribed to excitation energy transfer within a layer of chlorophylls near the stromal side of the membrane, and the slower 2-3-ps process to excitation energy transfer to the calculated lowest excitonic state. We conclude that excitation energy transfer within CP43 and CP47 is fast and does not contribute significantly to the well-known slow trapping of excitation energy in photosystem II.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Physics of Complex Systems, Division of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. weerd@nat.vu.nl
authors.forename: Frank L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: de Weerd
authors.forename: Ivo H M
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: van Stokkum
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Amerongen
authors.forename: Jan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.forename: Rienk
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Grondelle
mesh_terms: D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D004735:Energy Transfer; D008027:Light; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D008958:Models, Molecular; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; C083100:photosystem II, chlorophyll binding protein, CP-43; C070970:photosystem II, chlorophyll-binding protein, CP-47