3-D structures of the major components of a photosynthetic membrane

地球上几乎所有的生命都从植物或生活在海洋、湖泊和池塘中的简单的细菌光合生物那里获得所需的食物和氧气。这些细菌非常适合研究，因为它们很容易生长和研究。如果我们要了解蛋白质-叶绿素复合物的组成，这是必不可少的，这些复合物位于膜中并捕获光（LH复合物）并将其转化为可用于为活细胞提供动力的化学能（RC复合物）。我们已经使用了一种称为原子力显微镜的成像形式，从字面上“感觉”LH和RC蛋白质-叶绿素复合物在活膜中的形状，并看到它们形成的网络，作为“卫星天线”收集太阳能。我们已经将这些复合物从细胞膜上去除，并从中制造出3D晶体，如果我们能够制造出质量更好的晶体，我们就可以看到蛋白质和叶绿素收集太阳能的方式的原子细节，在它们之间传输太阳能，然后将其转化为电能。所有这些过程在自然界中都是非常有效的，如果我们要设计人造太阳能设备，我们有很多东西要从中学习。该申请寻求资金来制造更好的晶体，并利用它们来研究蛋白质叶绿素复合物如何收集太阳能。

Nearly all life on Earth gets the food and oxygen it needs from plants, or from simpler, bacterial photosynthetic organisms that live in oceans, lakes and ponds. These bacteria are ideal for research as they are easy to grow and study. This is essential if we are to understand the makeup of the protein-chlorophyll complexes that sit in a membrane and capture light (the LH complexes) and convert it into chemical energy (the RC complexes) that can be used to power living cells. We have already used a form of imaging called atomic force microscopy to literally 'feel' the shapes of the LH and RC protein-chlorophyll complexes in the living membrane, and to see the networks they form that act as a 'satellite dish' to harvest solar energy. We have removed these complexes from the membrane and have made 3D crystals from them, and if we could make crystals of better quality we could see the atomic details of the way that the proteins and chlorophylls harvest solar energy, transmit it between them, and then convert it to electrical energy. All these processes are extremely efficient in nature, and we have a lot to learn from them if we are to design man-made solar energy devices. This application seeks funding to make better crystals and to use them to find out how protein chlorophyll complexes harvest solar energy.