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Title: Evaluating the Nature of So-Called S*-State Feature in Transient Absorption of Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) from Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria

Abstract

Carotenoids are a class of natural pigments present in all phototrophic organisms, mainly in their light-harvesting proteins in which they play roles of accessory light absorbers and photoprotectors. Extensive time-resolved spectroscopic studies of these pigments have revealed unexpectedly complex photophysical properties, particularly for carotenoids in light-harvesting LH2 complexes from purple bacteria. An ambiguous, optically forbidden electronic excited state designated as S* has been postulated to be involved in carotenoid excitation relaxation and in an alternative carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer pathway, as well as being a precursor of the carotenoid triplet state. However, no definitive and satisfactory origin of the carotenoid S* state in these complexes has been established, despite a wide-ranging series of studies. Here, we resolve the ambiguous origin of the carotenoid S* state in LH2 complex from Rba. sphaeroides by showing that the S* feature can be seen as a combination of ground state absorption bleaching of the carotenoid pool converted to cations and the Stark spectrum of neighbor neutral carotenoids, induced by temporal electric field brought by the carotenoid cation- bacteriochlorophyll anion pair. Lastly, these findings remove the need to assign an S* state, and thereby significantly simplify the photochemistry of carotenoids in these photosynthetic antenna complexes.

Authors:
;  [1];
  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1329439
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1331438
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC 0001035; SC0001035
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry Journal Volume: 120 Journal Issue: 43; Journal ID: ISSN 1520-6106
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Citation Formats

Niedzwiedzki, Dariusz M., Hunter, C. Neil, and Blankenship, Robert E. Evaluating the Nature of So-Called S*-State Feature in Transient Absorption of Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) from Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08639.
Niedzwiedzki, Dariusz M., Hunter, C. Neil, & Blankenship, Robert E. Evaluating the Nature of So-Called S*-State Feature in Transient Absorption of Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) from Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08639
Niedzwiedzki, Dariusz M., Hunter, C. Neil, and Blankenship, Robert E. 2016. "Evaluating the Nature of So-Called S*-State Feature in Transient Absorption of Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) from Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08639.
@article{osti_1329439,
title = {Evaluating the Nature of So-Called S*-State Feature in Transient Absorption of Carotenoids in Light-Harvesting Complex 2 (LH2) from Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria},
author = {Niedzwiedzki, Dariusz M. and Hunter, C. Neil and Blankenship, Robert E.},
abstractNote = {Carotenoids are a class of natural pigments present in all phototrophic organisms, mainly in their light-harvesting proteins in which they play roles of accessory light absorbers and photoprotectors. Extensive time-resolved spectroscopic studies of these pigments have revealed unexpectedly complex photophysical properties, particularly for carotenoids in light-harvesting LH2 complexes from purple bacteria. An ambiguous, optically forbidden electronic excited state designated as S* has been postulated to be involved in carotenoid excitation relaxation and in an alternative carotenoid-to-bacteriochlorophyll energy transfer pathway, as well as being a precursor of the carotenoid triplet state. However, no definitive and satisfactory origin of the carotenoid S* state in these complexes has been established, despite a wide-ranging series of studies. Here, we resolve the ambiguous origin of the carotenoid S* state in LH2 complex from Rba. sphaeroides by showing that the S* feature can be seen as a combination of ground state absorption bleaching of the carotenoid pool converted to cations and the Stark spectrum of neighbor neutral carotenoids, induced by temporal electric field brought by the carotenoid cation- bacteriochlorophyll anion pair. Lastly, these findings remove the need to assign an S* state, and thereby significantly simplify the photochemistry of carotenoids in these photosynthetic antenna complexes.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08639},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1329439}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry},
issn = {1520-6106},
number = 43,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b08639

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 12 works
Citation information provided by
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