Early bacteriopheophytin reduction in charge separation in reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

ABSTRACT: A question at the forefront of biophysical sciences is, to what extent do quantum effects and protein conformational changes play a role in processes such as biological sensing and energy conversion? At the heart of photosynthetic energy transduction lie processes involving ultrafast energy and electron transfers among a small number of tetrapyrrole pigments embedded in the interior of a protein. In the purple bacterial reaction center (RC), a highly efficient ultrafast charge separation takes place between a pair of bacteriochlorophylls: an accessory bacteriochlorophyll (B) and bacteriopheophytin (H). In this work, we applied ultrafast spectroscopy in the visible and near-infrared spectral region to Rhodobacter sphaeroides RCs to accurately track the timing of the electron on BA and HA vi

SUBMITTER: Zhu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3672893 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature