Purple bacterial photosynthetic unit

V. Sundstrom, T. Pullerits, R. van Grondelle, Photosynthetic light-harvesting reconciling dynamics and structure of purple bacterial LH2 reveals function of photosynthetic unit. J. Phys. Chem. B 103, 2327-2346 (1999)... 

Fig. / A pictorial representation of a section through the purple bacterial photosynthetic unit normal to the presumed membrane plane. In Color Plate 4 the representation is LH2 - blue, LHl - green, RC - yellow. The tightly coupled rings of BChl a in LH2 andLHI and the primary dimer BChl a/s in the RC are shown in red. The times shown represent the rate constants for energy transfer from LH2 to LH1 and from LHl to the RC respectively. This figure was adapted from Papiz et al., (1996). See also Color Plate 4.

A typical purple bacterial photosynthetic unit consists of two types of antenna complexes, called LHl and LH2, which transfer absorbed solar radiation to the reaction center, where the light-energy is trapped and converted into useful chemical energy (for reviews see Zuber and Cogdell, 1995 Cogdell et al., 1996 Papiz et al., 1996 Hu et al., 1998). The LHl complexes surround the RC and form the so-called core complex. The LH2 complexes are arranged more peripherally around the core complexes (Fig. 1). 

Figure 16. Model of purple bacterial photosynthetic unit (Reprinted with permission from Pullerits, T Sundstrom, V. kcc. Chem. Res., 1996, 29, 381).

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