Dissecting the function of the LH2 pucBA multigene family in Rhodospeudomonas palustris.

紫色光合细菌，如古红单胞菌（Rhodopsuedomonas palustris），已被证明是极好的模式生物，可用于试图了解光合作用早期反应中涉及的详细分子机制。光合作用开始于被称为光收集复合物的色素-蛋白质复合物吸收太阳能。rp。Palustris包含一个多基因家族，该家族编码具有不同吸收光谱的光收集复合物。这些不同的复合物使细菌能够在大范围的入射光强度下生长，因此对于使它们在野外具有竞争力很重要。该项目旨在了解这个多基因家族的不同成员如何产生具有不同吸收光谱的光收集复合物，以及这如何使它们能够在不同的入射光强度下有效地收集光能。这些信息不仅是理解生物学基础的基础，也是生物能源研究的基础。更有效地利用太阳能的一种方法是设计进行人工光合作用的方法。生产这样的系统需要设计最初的太阳能收集器。光收集复合物。这个项目的结果将揭示如何控制光收集颜料吸收的地方，从而帮助设计这种人工太阳能收集器。

Purple photosynthetic bacteria, such as Rhodopsuedomonas palustris, have proved to be excellent model organisms for use in trying to understand the detailed molecular mechanisms involved in the early reactions of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis begins with the absorption of solar energy by pigment-protein complexes called light harvesting complexes. Rps. palustris contains a multigene faimly that encodes light harvesting complexes that have different absorption spectra. These different complexes allow the bacterium to grow over a wide range of incident light intensities and are therefore important for allowing them to be competitive in the wild. This project aims to understand how the different members of this multigene family produce light harvesting complexes wth different absorption spectra and how this enables them to harvest light energy efficiently at different incident light intensities. This information is not only fundamental in trying to understand a basic piece of biology but also for research into bioenergy. One way to use solar energy more efficiently is to devise ways of carrying out artificial photosynthesis. Producing such systems requires the design of the initial solar energy collectors ie. the light harvesting complexes. The results of this project will reveal how to control where light harvesting pigments absorb and so aid the design of such artificial solar energy collectors.