Summary
The primary reactions of purple bacterial photosynthesis take place within two well characterized pigment-protein complexes, the core reaction center-light-harvesting 1 (RC-LH1) complex and the more peripheral light-harvesting 2 (LH2) complexes. These antenna complexes serve to absorb incident solar radiation and to transfer it to the RCs, where it is used to ‘power’ the photosynthetic redox reaction. This review describes how the use of single-molecule spectroscopy has contributed to a more detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the energy transfer processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Abbreviations
- BChl:
-
bacteriochlorophyll
- (EM)CCD:
-
(electron multiplying) charge coupled device
- FWHM:
-
full width half maximum
- LH:
-
light-harvesting
- PSB:
-
phonon side band
- PSU:
-
photosynthetic unit
- Rba. :
-
Rhodobacter
- RC:
-
reaction center
- Rps. :
-
Rhodopseudomonas
- Rsp. :
-
Rhodospirillum
- ZPL:
-
zero phonon line
References
Alden RG, Johnson E, Nagarajan V, Parson WW, Law CJ and Cogdell RJ (1997) Calculations of spectroscopic properties of the LH2 bacteriochlorophyll-protein antenna complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. J Phys Chem B 101: 4667–4680
Basché T, Moerner WE, Orrit M and Wild UP (1997) Single Molecule Optical Detection Imaging and Spectroscopy. VCH, Weinheim
Bopp M, Jia Y, Li L, Cogdell RJ and Hochstrasser RM (1997) Fluorescence and photobleaching dynamics of single light harvesting complexes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94: 10630–10635
Bopp M, Sytnik A, Howard TD, Cogdell RJ and Hochstrasser RM (1999) The dynamics of structural deformations of immobilized single light-harvesting complexes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96: 11271–11276
Borland L and van Heel M (1990) Classification of image data in conjugate representation spaces. J Opt Soc Am A 7: 601–610
Cheng YC and Silbey RJ (2006) Coherence in the B800 ring of purple bacteria LH2. Phys Rev Lett 9602: 028103-1–028103-4
Cogdell RJ, Gall A and Köhler J (2006) The architecture and function of the light-harvesting apparatus of purple bacteria: From single molecules to in vivo membranes. Quart Rev Biophys 39: 227–324
Dahlbom M, Pullerits T, Mukamel S and Sundström V (2001) Exciton delocalization in the B850 light-harvesting complex: Comparison of different measures. J Phys Chem B 105: 5515–5524
Davydov AS (1971) Theory of Molecular Excitons. Plenum, New York
De Caro C, Visschers RW, van Grondelle R and Völker S (1994) Inter- and intraband energy transfer in LH2-antenna complexes of purple bacteria. A Fluorescence line-narrowing and holeburning study. J Phys Chem 98: 10584–10590
Dempster SE, Seogijoo J and Silbey RJ (2001) Single molecule spectroscopy of disordered circular aggregates: A perturbation analysis. J Chem Phys 114: 10015–10023
de Ruijter WPF, Oellerich S, Segura J-M, Lawless AM, Papiz M and Aartsma TJ (2004) Observation of the energy-level structure of the low-light adapted B800 LH4 complex by single-molecule spectroscopy. Biophys J 87: 3413–3420
Didraga C and Knoester J (2002) Exchange narrowing in circular and cylindrical molecular aggregates: degenerate versus non-degenerate states. Chem Phys 275: 307–318
Fidder H, Knoester J and Wiersma DA (1991) Optical properties of disorderedmolecular aggregates: A numerical study. J Chem Phys 95: 7880–7890
Francia F, Wang J, Venturoli G, Melandri BA, Barz WP and Oesterhelt D (1999) The reaction center-LH1 antenna complex of Rhodobacter sphaeroides contains one PufX molecule which is involved in dimerization of this complex. Biochemistry 38: 6834–6845
Frenkel J (1931 a) On the transformation of light into heat in solids I. The Physical Review 37: 17–44
Frenkel J (1931b) On the transformation of light into heat in solids II. The Physical Review 37: 1276–1294
Funatsu T, Harada Y, Tokunaga M, Saito K and Yanagida T (1995) Imaging of single fluorescent molecules and individual ATP turnovers by single myosin molecules in aqueous solution. Nature 374: 555–559
Gerken U, Jelezko F, Goetze B, Branschädel M, Tietz C, Ghosh R and Wrachtrup J (2003a) Membrane environment reduces the accessible conformational space available to an integral membrane protein. J Phys Chem B 107: 338–343
Gerken U, Lupo D, Tietz C, Wrachtrup J and Ghosh R (2003b) Circular symmetry of the light-harvesting 1 complex from Rhodospirillum rubrum is not perturbed by interaction with the reaction center. Biochemistry 42: 10354–10360
Harms GS, Cognet L, Lommerse PHM, Blab GA and Schmidt Th (2001) Auto fluorescent proteins in single-molecule research: Applications to live cell imaging microscopy. Biophys J 80: 2396–2408
Hofmann C, Francia F, Venturoli G, Oesterhelt D and Köhler J (2003a) Energy transfer in a single self-aggregated photosynthetic unit. FEBS Lett 546: 345–348
Hofmann C, Ketelaars M, Matsushita M, Michel H, Aartsma TJ and Köhler J (2003b) Single-molecule study of the electronic couplings in a circular array of molecules: light-harvesting-2 complex from Rhodospirillum molischianum. Phys Rev Lett 90: 013001–013004
Hofmann C, Aartsma TJ, Michel H and Köhler J (2003c) Direct observation of tiers in the energy landscape of a chromoprotein: A single-molecule study. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100: 15534–15538
Hofmann C, Aartsma T J and Köhler J (2004a) Energetic disorder and the B850-exciton states of individual light-harvesting 2 complexes from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. Chem Phys Lett 395: 373–378
Hofmann C, Aartsma TJ, Michel H and Köhler J (2004b) Spectral dynamics in the B800 band of LH2 from Rhodospirillum molischianum: A single-molecule study. New J Phys 6: 1–15
Hofmann C, Michel H, van Heel M and Köhler J (2005) Multi-variate analysis of single-molecule spectra: Surpassing spectral diffusion. Phys Rev Lett 9419: 195501–195504
Hofmann C, Kulzer F, Zondervan R, Köhler J and Orrit M (2007) Single biomolecules at cryogenic temperatures: From structure to dynamics. In: Rigler R and Vogel H (eds), Single Molecules and Nanotechnology. Springer, Berlin
Hu X, Ritz T, Damjanovic A, Autenrieth F and Schulten K (2002) Photosynthetic apparatus of purple bacteria. Quart Rev Biophys 35: 1–62
Jang S, Dempster SE and Silbey RJ (2001) Characterization of the static disorder in the B850 band of LH2. J Phys Chem B 105: 6655–6665
Karrasch S, Bullough PA and Ghosh R (1995) The 8.5 Å projection map of the light-harvesting complex I from Rhodospirillum rubrum reveals a ring composed of 16 subunits. The EMBO Journal 14: 631–638
Ketelaars M, van Oijen AM, Matsushita M, Köhler J, Schmidt J and Aartsma TJ (2001) Spectroscopy on the B850 band of individual light-harvesting 2 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila I. Experiments and Monte Carlo simulations. Biophys J 80: 1591–1603
Ketelaars M, Hofmann C, Köhler J, Howard TD, Cogdell RJ, Schmidt J and Aartsma TJ (2002) Spectroscopy on individual light-harvesting 1 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. Biophys J 83: 1701–1715
Kinosita Jr K, Adachi K and Itoh H (2004) Rotation of F1ATPAse: How an ATP-driven molecular machine may work. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 33: 245–268
Kleinfeld D, Okamura MY and Feher G (1984) Electron-transfer kinetics in photosynthetic reaction centers cooled to cryogenic temperatures in the charge-separated state: Evidence for light-induced structural changes. Biochemistry 23: 5780–5786
Knox RS (1963) The Electronic Structure. Theory of Excitons. Academic Press, New York
Koepke JHX, Muenke C, Schulten K and Michel H (1996) The crystal structure of the light-harvesting complex II (B800-850) from Rhodospirillum molischianum. Structure 4: 581–597
Köhler J (1999) Magnetic resonance of a single molecular spin. Phys Rep 310: 261–339
Köhler J and Aartsma TJ (2006) Single molecule spectroscopy ofpigmentprotein complexes from purple bacteria. In: Grimm B, Porra RJ, Rüdiger W and Scheer H (eds) Chlorophylls and Bacteriochlorophylls: Biochemistry, Biophysics, Functions and Applications (Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, Vol 25), pp 309–321. Springer, Dordrecht
Krueger BP, Scholes GD and Fleming GR (1998) Calculation of couplings and energy-transfer pathways between the pigments of LH2 by the ab initio transition density cube method. J Phys Chem 102: 5378–5386
Kühlbrandt W (1995) Many wheels make light work. Nature 374: 497–498
Kulzer F and Orrit M (2004) Single-molecule optics. Annu Rev Phys Chem 55: 585–611
Lang E, Baier J and Köhler J (2006) Epifluorescence confocal and total internal reflection microscopy for single molecule experiments: A quantitative comparison. J Microscopy 222: 118–123
Lee JB, Hite RK, Hamdan SM, Xie XS, Richardson CC and van Oijen AM (2006) DNA Primase acts as a molecular brake in DNA replication. Nature 439: 621–624
Lu HP, Xun L and Xie S (1998) Single molecule enzymatic dynamics. Science 282: 1877–1882
Matsushita M, Ketelaars M, van Oijen AM, Koehler J, Aartsma TJ and Schmidt J (2001) Spectroscopy on the B850 band of individual light-harvesting 2 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila II. Exciton states of an elliptically deformed ring aggregate. Biophys J 80: 1604–1614
McDermott G, Prince SM, Freer AA, Hawthornthwaite-Lawless AM, Papiz AZ, Cogdell RJ and Isaacs NW (1995) Crystal structure of an integral membrane light-harvesting complex from photosynthetic bacteria. Nature 374: 517–521
McLuskey K, Prince SM, Cogdell RJ and Isaacs NW (2001) The crystallographic structure of the B800-820 LH3 light-harvesting complex from the purple bacteria Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strain 7050. Biochemistry 40: 8783–8789
Moerner WE and Basché Th (1993) Optical spectroscopy of single impurity molecules in solids. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 32: 457–476
Moerner WE and Fromm DP (2003) Methods of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. Rev Sci Instr 74: 3597–3619
Moerner WE and Kador L (1989) Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid. Phys Rev Lett 62: 2535–2538
Moerner WE and Orrit M (1999) Illuminating single molecules in condensed matter. Science 283: 1670–1676
Mostovoy MW and Knoester J (2000) Statistics of optical spectra from single-ring aggregates and its application to LH2. J Phys Chem B 104: 12355–12364
Moskalenko AA, Toropygina O, Godik VI, Timpmann K and Freiberg A (1992) Investigation of spatial relationships and energy transfer between complexes B800-850 and B890-RC from Chromatium minutissimum reconstituted into liposomes. FEBS Lett 308: 133–136
Nishizaka T, Miyata H, Yoshikawa H, Ishiwata S and Kinosita K (1995) Unbinding force of a single motor molecule of muscle measured using optical tweezers. Nature 377: 251–254
Orrit M and Bernard J (1990) Single pentacene molecules detected by fluorescence excitation in a p-terphenyl crystal. Phys Rev Lett 65: 2716–2719
Papiz MZ, Prince SM, Howard T, Cogdell RJ and Isaacs NW (2003) The structure and thermal motion of the B800–850 LH2 complex at 2.0 Å resolution and 100 K: New structural features and functionally relevant motions. J Mol Biol 226: 1523–1538
Perkins TT, Quake SR, Smith DE and Chu S (1994) Relaxation of a single DNA molecule observed by optical microscopy. Science 264: 822–826
Plakhotnik T, Donley EA and Wild UP (1997) Single molecule spectroscopy. Ann Rev Phys Chem 48: 181–212
Qian P, Hunter CN and Bullough PA (2005) The 8.5Å projection structure of the core RC-LH1-PufX dimer of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. J Mol Biol 349: 948–960
Rebane KK (1970) Impurity Spectra in Solids. Plenum Press, New York
Rigler R, Orrit M and Basché Th (2001) Single Molecule Spectroscopy. Springer Berlin
Robinson GW (1970) Electronic and vibrational excitons in molecular crystals. Annu Rev Phys Chem 21: 429–474
Roszak AW, Howard TD, Southall J, Gardiner AT, Law CJ, Isaacs NW and Cogdell RJ (2003) Crystal structure of the RC-LH1 core complex from Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Science 302: 1969–1972
Sauer K, Cogdell RJ, Prince SM, Freer A, Isaacs NW and Scheer H (1996) Structure-based calculations of the optical spectra of the LH2 bacteriochlorophyll-protein complex from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila. Photochem Photobio 64: 564–576
Schnitzer MJ and Block SM (1997) Kinesin hydrolyses one ATP per 8 nm step. Nature 388: 386–390
Scholes GD, Gould IR, Cogdell RJ and Fleming GR (1999) Ab initio molecular orbital calculations of electronic couplings in the LH2 bacterial light-harvesting complex of Rps. acidophila. J Phys Chem B 103: 2543–2553
Siebert CA, Qian P, Fotiadis D, Engel A, Hunter CN and Bullough PA (2004) Molecular architecture of photosynthetic membranes in Rhodobacter sphaeroides: The role of PufX. EMBO J 23: 690–700
Small GJ (1995) On the validity of the standard model for primary charge separation in the bacterial reaction center. Chem Phys 197: 239–257
Somsen OJ, van Mourik F, van Grondelle R and Valkunas L (1994) Energy migration and trapping in a spectrally and spatially inhomogeneous light-harvesting antenna. Biophys J 66: 1580–1596
Sumi H (2001) Bacterial photosynthesis begins with quantum-mechanical coherence. Chem Rec 1: 480–493
Tietz C, Cheklov O, Draebenstedt A, Schuster J and Wrachtrup J (1999) Spectroscopy on single light harvesting complexes at low temperature. J Phys Chem B 103: 6328–6333
Tietz C, Gerken U, Jelezko F and Wrachtrup J (2000) Polarization measurements on single pigment protein complexes. Single Molecules 1: 67–72
Valkunas L, van Mourik F and van Grondelle R (1992) On the role of spectral and spatial antenna inhomogeneity in the process of excitation energy trapping in photosynthesis. J Photochem Photobiol B15: 159–170
van Amerongen H, Valkunas L and van Grondelle R (2000) Photosynthetic Excitons. World Scientific, Singapore
van der Meer H, Disselhorst JAJM, Köhler J, Brouwer ACJ, Groenen EJJ and Schmidt J (1995) An insert for single molecule magnetic resonance spectroscopy in an external magnetic field. J Rev Sci Instrum 66: 4853–4856
van Heel M (1989) Classification of very large electron microscopical image data sets. Optik 82: 114–126
van Heel M, Gowen B, Matadeen R, Orlova EV, Finn R, Pape T, Kohen D, Stark H, Schmidt R, Schatz M and Patwardhan A (2000) Single-particle electron cryo-microscopy: Towards atomic resolution. Quart Rev Biophys 33: 307–369
van Oijen AM, Ketelaars M, Köhler J, Aartsma TJ and Schmidt J (1998) Spectroscopy of single light-harvesting complexes from purple photosynthetic bacteria at 1.2 K. J Phys Chem B 102: 9363–9366
van Oijen AM, Ketelaars M, Köhler J, Aartsma TJ and Schmidt J (1999a) Spectroscopy of individual LH2 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila: Localized excitations in the B800 band. Chem Phys 247: 53–60
van Oijen AM, Ketelaars M, Köhler J, Aartsma TJ and Schmidt J (1999b) Unraveling the electronic structure of individual photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. Science 285: 400–402
van Oijen AM, Ketelaars M, Köhler J, Aartsma TJ and Schmidt J (2000) Spectroscopy of individual LH2 complexes of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila : Diagonal disorder, sample heterogeneity, spectral diffusion, and energy transfer in the B800 band. Biophys J 78: 1570–1577
van Oijen AM, Blainey PC, Crampton DJ, Richardson CC, Ellenberger T and Xie XS (2003) Single-molecule kinetics of λ exonuclease reveal base dependence and dynamic disorder. Science 301: 1235–1238
Vulto SIE, Kennis JTM, Streltsov AM, Amesz J and Aartsma TJ (1999) Energy relaxation within the B850 absorption band of the isolated light-harvesting complex LH2 from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila at low temperature. J Phys Chem B 103: 878–883
Weiss S (1999) Fluorescence spectroscopy of single biomolecules. Science 283: 1676–1683
Wrachtrup J, Aartsma TJ, Köhler J, Ketelaars M, van Oijen AM, Matsushita M, Schmidt J, Tietz C and Jelezko F (2003) Spectroscopy of individual photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes. In: Zander C, Enderlein J and Keller RA (eds) Single Molecule Detection in Solution. Methods and Application, pp 185–229. Wiley-VCH, Berlin
Wu HM, Savikhin S, Reddy NRS, Jankowiak R, Cogdell RJ, Struve WS and Small GJ (1996) Femtosecond and hole-burning studies of B800’s excitation energy relaxation dynamics in the LH2 antenna complex of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila (Strain 10050). J Phys Chem 100: 12022–12033
Xu Q and Gunner MR (2001) Trapping conformational intermediate states in the reaction center protein from photosynthetic bacteria. Biochemistry 40: 3232–3241
Zander C, Enderlein J and Keller RA (eds) (2003) Single Molecule Detection in Solution. Methods and Application. Wiley-VCH, Berlin
Zazubovich V, Matsuzaki S, Johnson TW, Hayes JM, Chitnis PR and Small GJ (2002) Red antenna states of photosystem I from cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus: A spectral hole burning study. Chem Phys 275: 47–59
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Köhler, J. (2009). Optical Spectroscopy of Individual Light-Harvesting Complexes from Purple Bacteria. In: Hunter, C.N., Daldal, F., Thurnauer, M.C., Beatty, J.T. (eds) The Purple Phototrophic Bacteria. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8815-5_44
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8815-5_44
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8814-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8815-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)