N. Wakao et al., DISCOVERY OF NATURAL PHOTOSYNTHESIS USING ZN-CONTAINING BACTERIOCHLOROPHYLL IN AN AEROBIC BACTERIUM ACIDIPHILIUM-RUBRUM, Plant and Cell Physiology, 37(6), 1996, pp. 889-893
We discovered natural photosynthesis using Zn-containing bacteriochlor
ophyll a in an acidophilic bacterium Acidiphilium rubrum. Chemical ana
lysis of the cell extracts gave a 13:2:1 molar ratio of Zn-bacteriochl
orophyll a: Mg-bacteriochlorophyll a: bacteriopheophytin a. Most of th
e pigments are associated with fully active reaction center and light-
harvesting complexes analogous to those in purple photosynthetic bacte
ria. The finding indicates an unexpectedly wide variability of photosy
nthesis.