The phycobilisome; how can light energy be converted to chemical energy with 95% efficiency?

随着化石燃料供应的减少和全球变暖效应的加剧，对太阳能的需求日益增加。然而，目前的太阳能电池板效率很低，英国大多数家庭的太阳能电池板的效率只有15-20%。相比之下，红微藻通过其称为藻胆体的光合机制达到95%的效率。利用这些分子系统应用于可再生能源对生物技术工业具有巨大的潜力。然而，首先我们需要知道这些藻胆体是由什么组成的，因此，是什么使这些生物机器如此高效地运作。这项研究计划将首次使用最先进的质谱法来表征红微藻中的藻胆酶体。通过从一个全新的角度解决这个研究问题，我们将加深我们对藻胆体是如何构建的理解。微藻生长过程中光照条件的改变会改变藻胆体的效率。通过跟踪藻胆体与光合效率的结构特征，我们将确定有效光传输所必需的关键因素，从而确定哪种藻胆体组成对光合作用最有效。这一发现对于我们建造这些高效的微型机器以整合到太阳能电池板设备中至关重要。该提案的结果将在结构生物学家，质谱学家以及太阳能和微藻社区的学术界产生广泛的影响，任何获得的知识都可以迅速转化为工业用途。

With fossil fuel supplies decreasing and global warming effects growing, solar energy is increasingly in demand. However, current solar panel efficiency is low with solar panels on most homes in the UK operating at only 15-20% efficiency. Red microalgae, in contrast, achieve 95% efficiency through their photosynthetic machinery, termed phycobilisomes. Harnessing these molecular systems for renewable energy applications has tremendous potential for the biotechnological industry. However, first we need to know what these phycobilisomes are made of and, thus, what makes these biological machines operate with such high efficiency.This research proposal will, for the first time, use state-of-the-art mass spectrometry to characterise the phycobilisome in red microalgae. By addressing this research question from an entirely new angle, we will deepen our understanding of how the phycobilisome is constructed. The phycobilisome efficiency will be altered by changing the light conditions during microalgae growth. By tracking the structural features of the phycobilisome with photosynthetic efficiency, we will determine the critical factors that are necessary for efficient light transmission and as such determine which phycobilisome composition is the most efficient for photosynthesis. The findings of which are essential to allow us to construct these highly efficient microscopic machines for incorporation into solar panel devices. The results of this proposal will have broad impact in the academic community amongst structural biologists, mass spectrometrists and within the solar energy and microalgae communities, with any knowledge gained being rapidly translatable for industrial use.