Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.106, No.6, 1430-1433, 2002
Fluorescence emission spectroscopy of single light-harvesting complex from green filamentous photosynthetic bacteria
The fluorescence emission properties of supramolecular light-harvesting complexes (= chlorosomes) from a green filamentous photosynthetic bacterium (Chloroflexus aurantiacus) on a quartz plate were studied for the first time at the single-unit level with a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope. Atomic force microscope observation evidenced that most chlorosomes were independently situated on the quartz plate, All the fluorescence bands from bacteriochlorophyll-c aggregates of a single chlorosome had a similar peak position and also a similar bandwidth. The conservative spectroscopic properties of each Chloroflexus chlorosome indicate that the presence of stereoisomers at the 3(1)-position of bacteriochlorophyll-c molecules (3(1)-R/S = 2/1) does not provide any heterogeneity of chlorosomal pigment organization among Chloroflexus chlorosomes.