A Photosynthetic Antenna System which Contains a Protein-Free Chromophore Aggregate

Abstract

Abstract The interior of chlorosomes, the main antenna system of the photosynthesizing bacterium Chloroßexus aurantiacus, is shown to contain no proteins in a fixed ratio to BChl c and in amounts that could be significant of direct chromophore-protein complexes. This excludes non-covalent chromophore-protein complexing -that has so far been found in all other antennae -as the main organizational principle of the interior architecture for chlorosom es of chlorophyll C. aurantiacus. Rather, these antennae constitute the first case of a chromophore-chromophore aggregate functioning as a photosynthetic light harvesting system.