A femtosecond visible/visible and visible/mid-infrared transient absorption study of the light harvesting complex II.
Light harvesting complex II (LHCII) is the most abundant protein in the thylakoid membrane of higher plants and green algae. LHCII acts to collect solar radiation, transferring this energy mainly toward photosystem II, with a smaller amount going to photosystem I; it is then converted into a chemical, storable form. We performed time-resolved femtosecond visible pump/mid-infrared probe and visible pump/visible probe absorption difference spectroscopy on purified LHCII to gain insight into the energy transfer in this complex occurring in the femto-picosecond time regime. We find that information derived from mid-infrared spectra, together with structural and modeling information, provides a unique visualization of the flow of energy via the bottleneck pigment chlorophyll a604.
Stahl
Andreas D
AD
Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Di Donato
Mariangela
M
van Stokkum
Ivo
I
van Grondelle
Rienk
R
Groot
Marie Louise
ML
D000042:Absorption; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008027:Light; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013997:Time Factors
D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D002734:Chlorophyll; C037184:chlorophyll b; D000077194:Chlorophyll A