The structural basis of light-harvesting in purple bacteria

FEBS Lett. 2003 Nov 27;555(1):35-9. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(03)01102-5.

Abstract

A typical purple bacterial photosynthetic unit consists of two types of light-harvesting complex (LH1 and LH2) together with a reaction centre. This short review presents a description of the structure of the LH2 complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila, which has recently been improved to a resolution of 2.0 A [Papiz et al., J. Mol. Biol. 326 (2003) 1523-1538]. We show how this structure has helped to reveal the details of the various excitation energy transfer events in which it is involved.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry*
  • Bacterial Proteins / radiation effects
  • Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / chemistry*
  • Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes / radiation effects
  • Macromolecular Substances
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Photobiology
  • Rhodopseudomonas / chemistry
  • Rhodopseudomonas / radiation effects
  • Spectrophotometry
  • Static Electricity

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes
  • Macromolecular Substances