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| Neil Isaacs - | |
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The major components of a typical bacterial photosynthetic unit are the
reaction centre (RC) and two types of light-harvesting complexes (LH1
and LH2), located within intracytoplasmic membranes. The LH1 complex
is associated with the RC in a 1:1 stoichiometry to form the "core
complex". Larger amounts of LH2 complex may be produced depending
on growth conditions. Light energy captured by the peripheral
light-harvesting complex (LH2) is passed through LH1 to the
reaction centre where it is converted into chemical energy. We have
now determined the structures of the "core complex", two types of
LH2 and a number of mutants of the reaction centre. These structures
are beginning to reveal details not only of the mechanisms of light
harvesting, energy transfer and energy trapping, but also of the
assembly of some parts of these multicomponent complexes and the
association of proteins with membrane lipids.
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