Mechanisms underlying carotenoid absorption in oxygenic photosynthetic proteins.

ABSTRACT: The electronic properties of carotenoid molecules underlie their multiple functions throughout biology, and tuning of these properties by their in vivo locus is of vital importance in a number of cases. This is exemplified by photosynthetic carotenoids, which perform both light-harvesting and photoprotective roles essential to the photosynthetic process. However, despite a large number of scientific studies performed in this field, the mechanism(s) used to modulate the electronic properties of carotenoids remain elusive. We have chosen two specific cases, the two β-carotene molecules in photosystem II reaction centers and the two luteins in the major photosystem II light-harvesting complex, to investigate how such a tuning of their electronic structure may occur. Indeed, in each case, iden

SUBMITTER: Mendes-Pinto MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3696649 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature