Augmenting light coverage for photosynthesis through YFP-enhanced charge separation at the Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction centre.

Abstract

Photosynthesis uses a limited range of the solar spectrum, so enhancing spectral coverage could improve the efficiency of light capture. Here, we show that a hybrid reaction centre (RC)/yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) complex accelerates photosynthetic growth in the bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The structure of the RC/YFP-light-harvesting 1 (LH1) complex shows the position of YFP attachment to the RC-H subunit, on the cytoplasmic side of the RC complex. Fluorescence lifetime microscopy of whole cells and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy of purified RC/YFP complexes show that the YFP-RC intermolecular distance and spectral overlap between the emission of YFP and the visible-region (QX) absorption bands of the RC allow energy transfer via a Förster mechanism, with an efficiency of 40±10%. This proof-of-principle study demonstrates the feasibility of increasing spectral coverage for harvesting light using non-native genetically-encoded light-absorbers, thereby augmenting energy transfer and trapping in photosynthesis.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Grayson, K.J.
Faries, K.M.
Huang, X.
Qian, P.
Dilbeck, P.
Martin, E.C.
Hitchcock, A.
Vasilev, C.
Yuen, J.M.
Niedzwiedzki, D.M.
Leggett, G.J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4315-9076
Holten, D.
Kirmaier, C.
Hunter, C.N.

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Keywords:

Bioenergetics; Devices for energy harvesting; Photosynthesis; Synthetic biology

Dates: