The optimal design and operation of photosynthetic bioreactors (PBRs) for microalgal cultivation is essential for improving the environmental and economic performance of microalgae-based biofuel production. Models that estimate microalgal growth under different conditions can help to optimize PBR design and operation. To be effective, the growth parameters used in these models must be accuratel...

A large variety of new energy-generating technologies are being developed in an effort to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels, and to reduce the carbon footprint of energy generation. The term 'biological photovoltaic system' encompasses a broad range of technologies which all employ biological material that can harness light energy to split water, and then transfer the resulting electrons...

Energy transfer and trapping in the light harvesting antennae of purple photosynthetic bacteria is an ultrafast process, which occurs with a quantum efficiency close to unity. However the mechanisms behind this process have not yet been fully understood. Recently it was proposed that low-lying energy dark states, such as charge transfer states and polaron pairs, play an important role in the dy...

Lycopene, which can be extracted from plants and is very popular for fruit intake, is restricted for healthy food development due to its high price. On the other hand, it will get great safety concerns, especially in the food or cosmetic application, if the raw material of lycopene is produced by chemical synthesis. In this project, we provide a key technology to bridge the limitation as mentio...

Little is known about the abundance, distribution, and ecology of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria, particularly in oligotrophic environments, which represent 60% of the ocean. We investigated the abundance of AAP bacteria across the South Pacific Ocean, including the center of the gyre, the most oligotrophic water body of the world ocean. AAP bacteria, Prochlorococcus, and total ...

Changes in cooperativity of the light-harvesting system of Rhodospirilhun rubrum were monitored in whole cells by measurements of in vivo bacteriochlorophyll fluorescence yield transients. Under non-cooperative conditions a polypeptide of 10.5 kDa (provisionally identified as BSSO-j?) was specifically phosphorylated; under cooperative conditions a polypeptide of 13 kDa (provisionally identified...

We first describe the history and methods of membrane protein crystallization, and show how the structure of the photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis was solved. The structure of this membrane protein complex is correlated with its function as a light-driven electron pump across the photosynthetic membrane. Finally we draw conclusions on the structur...

Bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) c is the main light-harvesting pigment of certain photosynthetic bacteria. It is found in the form of self-assembled aggregates in the so-called chlorosomes. Here we report the results of co-aggregation experiments of BChl c with azulene and its tailored derivatives. We have performed spectroscopic and quantum chemical characterization of the azulenes, followed by sel...

A photosynthetic rhizobium, strain BTAi 1, was cultured ex planta to investigate its photosynthetic-respiratory system and the response of this interactive system to light quantity and quality and to the addition of organic acids. Oxygen uptake, as measured with an oxygen electrode, is diminished upon illumination, with the amount of decrease related to light intensity. This oxygen-sparing effe...

A comparison has been made between Signal I, the photo-electron spin resonance signal associated with the primary light conversion act in photosynthesis, and free-radical signals generated in various chlorophyll species in vitro. The esr signals obtained from chlorophyll.monomer, (Chl.L)(+.), chlorophyll dimer, (Chl(2))(+.), and chlorophyll oligomer, (Chl(2))(n) (+.), are broader than Signal I,...