Photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes: fluorescent and absorption spectroscopy under two-photon (1200-1500 nm) and one-photon (600-750 nm) excitation by laser femtosecond pulses

Abstract

The pathways of excitation energy transfer (EET) via pigments of the light-harvesting antenna are still in discussion. The bacteriochlorophyll fluorescence of peripheral light-harvesting complexes (LH2) from purple bacteria can be observed upon two-photon excitation (TPE) within 1200-1500 nm spectral range (a broad band near 1300 nm). Earlier the occurrence of this band was taken as an evidence for the participation of "dark" carotenoid S1 state in EET processes (see [Walla et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97, 10808-10813 (2000)] and references in it). However we showed that TPE spectrum of LH2 fluorescence within 1200-1500 nm is not associated with carotenoids [Stepanenko et al., J. Phys. Chem. B. 113(34), 11720-11723 (2009)]. Here we present TPE spectra of fluorescence for chromatophores and lightharvesting complexes LH2 and LH1 from wild-type cells and from carotenoid-depleted or carotenoidless mutant cells of several purple bacteria. The broad band within 1300-1400 nm was found for all preparations. Absorption pump-probe femtosecond spectroscopy applied to LH2 complex from Rb. sphaeroides revealed the similar spectral and kinetic patterns for TPE at 1350 nm and one-photon excitation at 675 nm. Analysis of pigment composition of this complex by high-pressure liquid chromatography showed that even under mild isolation conditions some bacteriochlorophyll molecules were oxidized to 3-acetyl-chlorophyll molecules having the long-wavelength absorption peak in the 650-700 nm range. It is proposed that these 3-acetyl-chlorophyll molecules are responsible for the broad band in TPE spectra within the 1200-1500 nm region.