Conformational relaxation of single bacterial light-harvesting complexes

Biochemistry. 2006 Jan 31;45(4):1082-6. doi: 10.1021/bi0524159.

Abstract

We have employed the technique of single-molecule fluorescence microspectroscopy to investigate the spontaneous conformational evolution of individual peripheral LH2 complexes from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. Fluorescence microscopy is a sensitive tool, which allows the spectral changes of single complexes to be monitored on a time scale from 0.1 s to many minutes. Here we have investigated "natural" (occurring in the absence of excitation) spectral diffusion after a spectral jump has occurred. In a quarter of all the observed spectral jumps recorded with the LH2 complexes, a further spontaneous evolution occurs, in the absence of illumination, that results in the formation of a different spectroscopic state. We suggest that this is due to a natural conformational development of the pigment-protein complex, which so far has not been observed for this type of complex at the single-molecule level. The functional significance of such structural rearrangements is not yet clear but may be associated with the necessity for the light-harvesting complexes to adjust their shape in the densely packed photosynthetic membrane.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Kinetics
  • Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Nonlinear Dynamics
  • Protein Conformation
  • Rhodopseudomonas / chemistry*
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes