• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.73-83
• /
• 1980

The light harvesting pigment proteins of dinoflagellates exhibit essentially 100% efficient energy transfer from carotenoid (peridinin) to chlorophyll a within the antenna pigment complexes. The high efficiency of solar energy harvesing (particularly blue light) for photosynthesis in dinoflagellates is attributable to the unique molecular topography of peridinin and chlorophyll e within the protein crevice. The mechanisms of energy transfer from carotenoids to chlorophyll in higher plants have also been discussed in comparison with the dinoflagellate antenna pigment complexes. As an example of solar energy harvesting, particularly red light, for photosynthesis in algae, the molecular topography and energy transfer in the photosynthetic accessory pigment protein, Chroomonas phycocyanin, have also been discussed.

• Journal of Photoscience
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.74-77
• /
• 2002

Chlorophyll (Chi) d was assigned to an antenna pigment of red algae in 1943, but its presence and function in red algae have not been necessarily clear for a long time. In 1996, it was shown that Chi d functioned as a major antenna pigment in a peculiar oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryote, Acaryochloris marina, isolated as a symbiont of a colonial ascidian from coral reefs. This finding evoked the necessity for reexamination of the presence and function of Chi d in red algae. We found Chi d in methanol-extract from several marine red algae, and the relative content was high in one species, Ahnfeltiopsis flabelliformis. Absorption and fluorescence spectra, HPLC analysis, and NMR and mass spectroscopy characterized Chi d extracted from the red algal thalli, and those were essentially identical to those of Chi d isolated from A. marina. However, micro-spectrophotometric analysis suggested that Chi d was not an actual constituent of the red algae but came from epiphyte(s) attached to surface of red algal thalli.

• Journal of Photoscience
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.350-352
• /
• 2002

We examined the bacteriochlorophyill/bacteriopheophytin ratios in several species of purple bacteria containing only LHI. The pigment ratios depended greatly on species. Further, Rhodospirillum rubrum showed wide variation when grown under different light intensity, and Rhodobium marinum showed significant variation from culture to culture even under the same light conditions. The protein ratios of a/RC and $\beta$/RC estimated by SDS-PAGE of chromatophores of Rsp. rubrum and Rbi. marinum exhibited the ratio of $\beta$/$\alpha$ > 1. These findings gave us the novel idea that there are two types of LHl; one is a C-shaped open antenna composed by $\alpha$$\beta$ units surrounding a RC, and another is a small closed ring antenna composed by $\alpha$$\beta$ units located peripherally in a variable ratio to the core complex like LH2.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.314-319
• /
• 1979

The electronic spectrum of marine dinoflagellate antenna pigment, peridinin, has been described in terms of PPP SCF MO CI computations and fluorescence polarization of the peridinin component in photosynthetic pigment complex of Amphidinium carterae. The main absorption band at 470 nm, $^1B{\leftarrow}A$, is polarized nearly along the long molecular axis. There appear to be two ${\pi}{\rightarrow}{\pi}^*$ transitions (C and $D{\leftarrow}A$) in the socalled "cis" peak region, and they are polarized roughly parallel to the main $B{\leftarrow}A$ absorption. In addition, we have found that the carbonyl group undergoes very 1ittle reorganization of the electronic structure in going from the ground to the $^1B$ excited states of peridinin, while the allenic group shows a strong charge transfer tendency in producing an electron-deficient allente allene group in the excited state.

• Journal of Photoscience
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.47-52
• /
• 1994

Effects of HgCl$_2$-treatment on electron transport, chlorophyll a fluorescence and its quenching were studied using isolated barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Albori) chloroplasts. Depending on the concentration of HgCI$_2$, photosynthetic oxygen-evolving activities of photosystem II (PS II) were greatly inhibited, whereas those of photosystem I (PS I) were slightly decreased. The inhibitory effects of HgCl$_2$ on the oxygen-evolving activity was partially restored by the addition of hydroxyamine, suggesting the primary inhibition site by HgCl$_2$2-treatment is close to the oxidizing site of PS tl associated with water-splitting complex. Addition of 50 $\mu$M HgCI$_2$ decreased both photochemical and nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence. Especially, energy dependent quenching (qE) was completely disappeared by HgCl$_2$-treatment as observed by NH$_4$CI treatment. In the presence of HgCI$_2$, F'o level during illumination was also increased. These results suggest that pH gradient across thylakoid membrane can not be formed in the presence of 0 $\mu$M HgCl$_2$. In addition, antenna pigment composition might be altered by HgCl$_2$-treatment.