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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1993 Dec 15;90(24):11757–11761. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.24.11757

The accessory bacteriochlorophyll: a real electron carrier in primary photosynthesis.

T Arlt 1, S Schmidt 1, W Kaiser 1, C Lauterwasser 1, M Meyer 1, H Scheer 1, W Zinth 1
PMCID: PMC48063  PMID: 11607443

Abstract

The primary electron transfer in reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is studied by subpicosecond absorption spectroscopy with polarized light in the spectral range of 920-1040 nm. Here the bacteriochlorophyll anion radical has an absorption band while the other pigments of the reaction center have vanishing ground-state absorption. The transient absorption data exhibit a pronounced 0.9-ps kinetic component which shows a strong dichroism. Evaluation of the data yields an angle between the transition moments of the special pair and the species related with the 0.9-ps kinetic component of 26 +/- 8 degrees. This angle compares favorably with the value of 29 degrees expected for the reduced accessory bacteriochlorophyll. Extensive transient absorbance data are fully consistent with a stepwise electron transfer via the accessory bacteriochlorophyll.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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