Electromagnetic optimization of light-harvesting proteins.
The problem of electromagnetic optimization of the structure of light-harvesting proteins is studied within a simplified diffraction scheme. It is suggested that evolutionary pressures for protein antennae has resulted in molecular structures that optimize the absorption in the light-sensitive pigments. Bacteriorhodopsin is shown to be an exceptional case in terms of optimization, a fact that can be connected to its extremely high sensitivity as a light detector down to a single photon level.
Etchegoin
P
P
The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, SW7 2BW London, United Kingdom. p.etchegoin@ic.ac.uk
Maher
R C
RC