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Light-Driven Reconfiguration of a Xanthophyll Violaxanthin in the Photosynthetic Pigment-Protein Complex LHCII: A
Wojciech Grudzinski1, Ewa Janik1,2, Joanna Bednarska1
1Department of Biophysics, Institute of Physics, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University , 20-033 Lublin, Poland.
Abstract:
Resonance Raman analysis of the photosynthetic complex LHCII, immobilized in a polyacrylamide gel, reveals that one of the protein-bound xanthophylls, assigned as violaxanthin, undergoes light-induced molecular reconfiguration. The phototransformation is selectively observed in a trimeric structure of the complex and is associated with a pronounced twisting and a trans-cis molecular configuration change of the polyene chain of the carotenoid. Among several spectral effects accompanying the reconfiguration there are ones indicating a carotenoid triplet state. Possible physiological importance of the light-induced violaxanthin reconfiguration as a mechanism associated with making the pigment available for enzymatic deepoxidation in the xanthophyll cycle is discussed.
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