Role of allophycocyanin as light-harvesting pigment in cyanobacteria.
Photosynthetic action spectra of several cyanobacteria show a peak at about 650 nm, the height of which is correlated with allophycocyanin content in the strains examined. Allophycocyanin harvests light more efficiently than do phycocyanin and phycoerythrin. The contribution of chlorophyll a absorption to photosynthetic activity is barely detectable in cells of normal pigment composition. Chlorophyll a becomes the major light-harvesting pigment in cells that have been physiologically depleted of phycobiliproteins.
Lemasson
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C
Laboratoire de Photosynthése, C.N.R.S., 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Marsac
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NT
Cohen-Bazire
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G