Ultrafast Time-resolved Absorption Spectroscopy of Geometric Isomers of Carotenoids.

ABSTRACT: The structures of a number of stereoisomers of carotenoids have been revealed in three-dimensional X-ray crystallographic investigations of pigment-protein complexes from photosynthetic organisms. Despite these structural elucidations, the reason for the presence of stereoisomers in these systems is not well understood. An important unresolved issue is whether the natural selection of geometric isomers of carotenoids in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes is determined by the structure of the protein binding site or by the need for the organism to accomplish a specific physiological task. The association of cis isomers of a carotenoid with reaction centers and trans isomers of the same carotenoid with light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes has led to the hypothesis that the stereo

SUBMITTER: Niedzwiedzki DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2733370 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature