Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026

Purification of Active Photosystem I-Light Harvesting Complex I from Plant Tissues
Published on: February 3, 2023
The purple bacterial photosynthetic unit
R J Cogdell1, P K Fyfe, S J Barrett
1, .
Abstract:
Now is a very exciting time for researchers in the area of the primary reactions of purple bacterial photosynthesis. Detailed structural information is now available for not only the reaction center (Lancaster et al. 1995, in: Blankenship RE et al. (eds) Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria, pp 503-526), but also LH2 from Rhodopseudomonas acidophila (McDermott et al. 1995, Nature 374: 517-521) and LH1 from Rhodospirillum rubrum (Karrasch et al. 1995. EMBO J 14: 631-638). These structures can now be integrated to produce models of the complete photosynthetic unit (PSU) (Papiz et al., 1996, Trends Plant Sci, in press), which opens the door to a much more detailed understanding of the energy transfer events occurring within the PSU.
Related Concept Videos
Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacteria
Anoxygenic Photosynthesis
The Photochemical Reaction Center
Photosystem II
The pigment molecules are arranged across two photosystem domains — the antenna complex and the reaction center. The main aim of the pigment...
Photosystems
Functioning of Photosystems
Photosystems contain many pigment molecules, such as chlorophylls and carotenoids, arranged in a particular organization across two domains — the antenna complex and the reaction center. The main aim of the pigment...
Photosystem I
Both these photosystems work in concert. An excited electron from PSII is relayed to PSI via an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, which is comprised of the carrier molecule plastoquinone, the dual-protein cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin. As electrons move between PSII and PSI, they lose energy and must be re-energized...

