Photosynthetic organisms harvest sunlight with near unity quantum efficiency. The complexity of the electronic structure and energy transfer pathways within networks of photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes often obscures the mechanisms behind the efficient light-absorption-to-charge conversion process. Recent experiments, particularly using two-dimensional spectroscopy, have detected long-l...

Recent experiments suggest that electronic energy transfer in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes involves long-lived quantum coherence among electronic excitations of pigments. [Engel et al., Nature, 2007, 446, 782-786.] The observation has led to the suggestion that quantum coherence might play a significant role in achieving the remarkable efficiency of photosynthetic light harvesting. ...

Carotenoids are photoprotective pigments present in many photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic organisms. The desaturation of phytoene into phytofluene is an early step in the biosynthetic pathway that in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus is mediated by the product of the crtI gene. Here we report the sequence of this gene and the identification of CrtI as a membrane protein of...

Photosynthetic pigments, biochemical activities and chloroplast ultra-structure were investigated to survey the photosynthetic characteristics of ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) leaves during natural senescence. During leaf senescence, the content of total chlorophyll decreased rapidly while the content of carotenoids changed little; the content of ATP, the activity of O2 evolution of chloroplasts, t...

Photosynthetic antenna systems enable organisms harvesting light and transfer the energy to the photosynthetic reaction centre, where the conversion to chemical energy takes place. One of the most complex antenna systems, the chlorosome, found in the photosynthetic green sulfur bacterium Chlorobaculum (Cba.) tepidum contains a baseplate, which is a scaffolding super-structure, formed by the pro...

In evergreen conifers, where the foliage amount changes little with season, accurate detection of the underlying "photosynthetic phenology" from satellite remote sensing has been difficult, presenting challenges for global models of ecosystem carbon uptake. Here, we report a close correspondence between seasonally changing foliar pigment levels, expressed as chlorophyll/carotenoid ratios, and e...

Comparison of the growth parameters and photosynthetic capacities of cells of Aphanocapsa 6714 under various growth conditions led to the following conclusions: (a), no enzymic regulation of CO(2)/glucose assimilation takes place in this strain; (b), functioning of photodependent phosphorylating pathways turns off oxidative ATP synthesis; (c), no efficient regulation of pigment synthesis exists...