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Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Purification of Active Photosystem I-Light Harvesting Complex I from Plant Tissues
Published on: February 3, 2023
Photosynthesis. Structural basis for energy transfer pathways in the plant PSI-LHCI supercomplex
Xiaochun Qin1, Michihiro Suga2, Tingyun Kuang3
1Photosynthesis Research Center, Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Photosynthesis Research Center, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Tsushima Naka 3-1-1, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.
Abstract:
Photosynthesis converts solar energy to chemical energy by means of two large pigment-protein complexes: photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII). In higher plants, the PSI core is surrounded by a large light-harvesting complex I (LHCI) that captures sunlight and transfers the excitation energy to the core with extremely high efficiency. We report the structure of PSI-LHCI, a 600-kilodalton membrane protein supercomplex, from Pisum sativum (pea) at a resolution of 2.8 angstroms. The structure reveals the detailed arrangement of pigments and other cofactors—especially within LHCI—as well as numerous specific interactions between the PSI core and LHCI. These results provide a firm structural basis for our understanding on the energy transfer and photoprotection mechanisms within the PSI-LHCI supercomplex.
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