Coloring Outside the Lines: Exploiting Pigment-Protein Synergy for Far-Red Absorption in Plant Light-Harvesting Complexes.

ABSTRACT: Plants are designed to utilize visible light for photosynthesis. Expanding this light absorption toward the far-red could boost growth in low-light conditions and potentially increase crop productivity in dense canopies. A promising strategy is broadening the absorption of antenna complexes to the far-red. In this study, we investigated the capacity of the photosystem I antenna protein Lhca4 to incorporate far-red absorbing chlorophylls d and f and optimize their spectra. We demonstrate that these pigments can successfully bind to Lhca4, with the protein environment further red-shifting the chlorophyll d absorption, markedly extending the absorption range of this complex above 750 nm. Notably, chlorophyll d substitutes the canonical chlorophyll a red-form

SUBMITTER: Elias E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10859958 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature