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These pigments enter a high-energy state upon absorbing a photon which they can release in the form of chemical energy. This can occur via light-driven pumping of ions across a biological membrane (e.g. in the case of the proton pump bacteriorhodopsin ) or via excitation and transfer of electrons released by photolysis (e.g. in the photosystems ...
The pigments which absorb light at the highest energy level are found furthest from the reaction center. On the other hand, the pigments with the lowest energy level are more closely associated with the reaction center. Energy will be efficiently transferred from the outer part of the antenna complex to the inner part.
Like plants, the cyanobacteria use water as an electron donor for photosynthesis and therefore liberate oxygen; they also use chlorophyll as a pigment.In addition, most cyanobacteria use phycobiliproteins, water-soluble pigments which occur in the cytoplasm of the chloroplast, to capture light energy and pass it on to the chlorophylls.
The light-harvesting system of PSI uses multiple copies of the same transmembrane proteins used by PSII. The energy of absorbed light (in the form of delocalized, high-energy electrons) is funneled into the reaction center, where it excites special chlorophyll molecules (P700, with maximum light absorption at 700 nm) to a higher energy level.
Each photosystem II contains at least 99 cofactors: 35 chlorophyll a, 12 beta-carotene, two pheophytin, two plastoquinone, two heme, one bicarbonate, 20 lipids, the Mn 4 CaO 5 cluster (including two chloride ions), one non heme Fe 2+ and two putative Ca 2+ ions per monomer. [4] There are several crystal structures of photosystem II. [5]
Liu et al. (2004) Crystal structure of spinach major light-harvesting complex at 2.72A° resolution. Nature 428: 287–292. Lokstein (1994)The role of light-harvesting complex II energy dissipation: an in-vivo fluorescence in excess excitation study on the origin of high-energy quenching. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology 26: 175-184
The reaction center contains two pigments that serve to collect and transfer the energy from photon absorption: BChl and Bph. BChl roughly resembles the chlorophyll molecule found in green plants, but, due to minor structural differences, its peak absorption wavelength is shifted into the infrared , with wavelengths as long as 1000 nm.
Each absorbed photon causes the formation of an exciton (an electron excited to a higher energy state) in the pigment molecule. The energy of the exciton is transferred to a chlorophyll molecule ( P680 , where P stands for pigment and 680 for its absorption maximum at 680 nm) in the reaction center of photosystem II via resonance energy transfer .