Delocalization-enhanced long-range energy transfer between cryptophyte algae PE545 antenna proteins.
We study the dynamics of interprotein energy transfer in a cluster, consisting of four units of phycoerythrin 545 (PE545) antenna proteins via a hybrid quantum-classical approach. Long-range exciton transport is viewed as a random walk in which the hopping probabilities are determined from a quantum theory. We apply two different formulations of the exciton transport problem to obtain the hopping probabilities, and find that a theory that regards energy transfer as relaxations among the excitonic eigenstates mediated by the vibrational bath, predicts the fastest dynamics. Our results indicate that persistent exciton delocalization is an important implication of the quantum nature of energy transfer on a multiprotein length scale, and that a hybrid quantum-classical approach is a viable starting point in studies of long-range energy transfer in condensed phase biological systems.
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7 Canada.
Hoda
H
Hossein-Nejad
Carles
C
Curutchet
Aleksander
A
Kubica
Gregory D
GD
Scholes
D044785:Cryptophyta / Q000378:metabolism*; D004735:Energy Transfer; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D010799:Phycoerythrin / Q000737:chemistry*; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013816:Thermodynamics
C045714:phycoerythrin 545; D010799:Phycoerythrin