Construction and Direct Observation of Molecular Assembly of Photosynthetic Membrane Proteins

将具有捕光和电荷分离功能的光合膜蛋白（LH 2和LH 1-RC）成功地重组到脂双层膜中，研究组装结构与功能的关系。原子力显微镜在分子水平上清晰地观察到LH 2和LH 1-RC组装体的结构。结构可能与功能相关，例如，从LH 2到LH 1-RC的能量转移。研究结果为高效构建光能转换系统提供了有益的参考。

Photosynthetic membrane proteins (LH2 and LH1-RC) that play important roles of light harvesting and charge separation were successfully reconstituted into lipid bilayer membrane to investigate the relationship between the assembly structure and their function. The structure of the assembly consisting of LH2 and LH1-RC were clearly observed by atomic force microscopy at the molecular level. The structure likely correlates the function, e.g., energy transfer from LH2 to LH1-RC. The basic findings should provide useful information for highly efficient construction of photoenergy conversion system.