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Two equilibration pools of chlorophylls in the Photosystem I core antenna of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Photosynthesis Research volume 92, pages 55–63 (2007)Cite this article

Summary

Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy was applied for a comparative study of excitation decay in several different Photosystem I (PSI) core preparations from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. For PSI cores with a fully interconnected network of chlorophylls, the excitation energy was equilibrated over a pool of chlorophylls absorbing at ∼683 nm, independent of excitation wavelength [Gibasiewicz et al. J Phys Chem B 105:11498–11506, 2001; J Phys Chem B 106:6322–6330, 2002]. In preparations with impaired connectivity between chlorophylls, we have found that the spectrum of chlorophylls connected to the reaction center (i.e., with ∼20 ps decay time) over which the excitation is equilibrated becomes excitation-wavelength-dependent. Excitation at 670 nm is finally equilibrated over chlorophylls absorbing at ∼675 nm, whereas excitation at 695 nm or 700 nm is equilibrated over chlorophylls absorbing at ∼683 nm. This indicates that in the vicinity of the reaction center there are two spectrally different and spatially separated pools of chlorophylls that are equally capable of effective excitation energy transfer to the reaction center. We propose that they are related to the two groups of central PSI core chlorophylls lying on the opposite sides of reaction center.

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Abbreviations

A0 :

Primary acceptor

A1 :

Secondary quinone acceptor

Chl:

Chlorophyll

DADS:

Decay associated difference spectrum

ND:

Non-decaying

P700:

Primary donor

PB:

Photobleaching

PSI:

Photosystem I

RC:

Reaction center

SE:

Stimulated emission

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Prof. A. Freiberg for a valuable discussion. This work was supported by the DOE. K.R. acknowledges support from an NSF CAREER award (MCB-0347935). K.G. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Polish government (scientific project no 1 P03B 003 29).

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Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Krzysztof Gibasiewicz, V. M. Ramesh & Andrew N. Webber

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Su Lin & Neal W. Woodbury

  3. Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Krzysztof Gibasiewicz, V. M. Ramesh, Su Lin, Neal W. Woodbury & Andrew N. Webber

  4. Department of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 85, 61-614, Poznan, Poland

    Krzysztof Gibasiewicz

  5. Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama, Box 870336, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-0336, USA

    Kevin Redding

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Gibasiewicz
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  2. V. M. Ramesh
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  3. Su Lin
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  4. Kevin Redding
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  5. Neal W. Woodbury
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  6. Andrew N. Webber
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Correspondence to Krzysztof Gibasiewicz.

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Gibasiewicz, K., Ramesh, V.M., Lin, S. et al. Two equilibration pools of chlorophylls in the Photosystem I core antenna of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii . Photosynth Res 92, 55–63 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-006-9125-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-006-9125-1

Keywords

  • Antenna
  • Chlorophylls
  • Excitation energy transfer
  • Femtosecond transient absorption
  • Photosystem I
  • Primary charge separation
  • Reaction center