Challenges facing an understanding of the nature of low-energy excited states in photosynthesis

Jeffrey R Reimers; Malgorzata Biczysko; Douglas Bruce; David F Coker; Terry J Frankcombe; Hideki Hashimoto; Jürgen Hauer; Ryszard Jankowiak; Tobias Kramer; Juha Linnanto; Fikret Mamedov; Frank Müh; Margus Rätsep; Thomas Renger; Stenbjörn Styring; Jian Wan; Zhuan Wang; Zheng-Yu Wang-Otomo; Yu-Xiang Weng; Chunhong Yang; Jian-Ping Zhang; Arvi Freiberg; Elmars Krausz

doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2016.06.010

Challenges facing an understanding of the nature of low-energy excited states in photosynthesis

Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Sep;1857(9):1627-1640. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2016.06.010. Epub 2016 Jun 29.

Authors

Jeffrey R Reimers¹, Malgorzata Biczysko², Douglas Bruce³, David F Coker⁴, Terry J Frankcombe⁵, Hideki Hashimoto⁶, Jürgen Hauer⁷, Ryszard Jankowiak⁸, Tobias Kramer⁹, Juha Linnanto¹⁰, Fikret Mamedov¹¹, Frank Müh¹², Margus Rätsep¹⁰, Thomas Renger¹², Stenbjörn Styring¹¹, Jian Wan¹³, Zhuan Wang¹⁴, Zheng-Yu Wang-Otomo¹⁵, Yu-Xiang Weng¹⁴, Chunhong Yang¹⁶, Jian-Ping Zhang¹⁷, Arvi Freiberg¹⁸, Elmars Krausz¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures, College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China; School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, The University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: jeffrey.reimers@uts.edu.au.
² International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures, College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
⁵ School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematic Sciences, The University of New South Wales Canberra ACT 2600, Australia.
⁶ Department of Applied Chemistry for Environment, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1 Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1337, Japan.
⁷ Photonics Institute, TU Wien, Gusshausstrasse 27, 1040 Vienna, Austria.
⁸ Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66505, USA.
⁹ Zuse-Institute Berlin, Takustr. 7, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Ravila 14c, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹² Institute of Theoretical Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040 Linz, Austria.
¹³ Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology (CCNU), Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China.
¹⁴ Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100190, China.
¹⁵ Faculty of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito 310-8512, Japan.
¹⁶ Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanxincun 20, Xiangshan, Beijing 100093, China.
¹⁷ Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of, China.
¹⁸ Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Ravila 14c, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, 51010 Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address: arvi.freiberg@ut.ee.
¹⁹ Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Electronic address: krausz@rsc.anu.edu.au.

PMID: 27372198
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2016.06.010

Abstract

While the majority of the photochemical states and pathways related to the biological capture of solar energy are now well understood and provide paradigms for artificial device design, additional low-energy states have been discovered in many systems with obscure origins and significance. However, as low-energy states are naively expected to be critical to function, these observations pose important challenges. A review of known properties of low energy states covering eight photochemical systems, and options for their interpretation, are presented. A concerted experimental and theoretical research strategy is suggested and outlined, this being aimed at providing a fully comprehensive understanding.

Keywords: Charge transfer; Excited states; Exciton coupling; Non-photochemical quenching; Photosynthesis; Primary charge separation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / chemistry
Photosynthesis*
Photosystem I Protein Complex / chemistry
Photosystem II Protein Complex / chemistry
Phycobilisomes / chemistry

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
FMO bacteriochlorophyll protein, Bacteria
Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes
Photosystem I Protein Complex
Photosystem II Protein Complex
Phycobilisomes

Grants and funding

P 24774/FWF_/Austrian Science Fund FWF/Austria