Insights into the excitonic states of individual chlorosomes from Chlorobaculum tepidum.

ABSTRACT: Green-sulfur bacteria have evolved a unique light-harvesting apparatus, the chlorosome, by which it is perfectly adapted to thrive photosynthetically under extremely low light conditions. We have used single-particle, optical spectroscopy to study the structure-function relationship of chlorosomes each of which incorporates hundreds of thousands of self-assembled bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) molecules. The electronically excited states of these molecular assemblies are described as Frenkel excitons whose photophysical properties depend crucially on the mutual arrangement of the pigments. The signature of these Frenkel excitons and its relation to the supramolecular organization of the chlorosome becomes accessible by optical spectroscopy. Because subtle spectral features get obscured by ense

SUBMITTER: Jendrny M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4017281 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature