title: Self-assembly of photosynthetic membranes.
abstract: Bacterial photosynthetic membranes, also known as chromatophores, are tightly packed with integral membrane proteins that work together to carry out photosynthesis. Chromatophores display a wide range of cellular morphologies; spherical, tubular, and lamellar chromatophores have all been observed in different bacterial species, or with different protein constituents. Through recent computational modeling and simulation, it has been demonstrated that the light-harvesting complexes abundant in chromatophores induce local membrane curvature via multiple mechanisms. These protein complexes assemble to generate a global curvature and sculpt the chromatophores into various cellular-scale architectures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, USA.
authors.forename: Jen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hsin
authors.forename: Danielle E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gumbart
authors.forename: Christopher B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Melih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strumpfer
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schulten
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D002856:Chromatophores / Q000737:chemistry*; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D010788:Photosynthesis; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: C081521:B800-850 light-harvesting complex, bacteria; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D008565:Membrane Proteins