Probing the binding sites of exchanged chlorophyll a in LN2 by Raman and site-selection fluorescence spectroscopies

In this work we have selectively released the 800 nm absorbing bacteriochlo rophyll a molecules of the LH2 protein from the photosynthetic bacterium Rh odopseudomonas acidophila, strain 10050, and replaced them with chlorophyll a (Chla), A combination of low-temperature electronic absorption, resonanc e Raman and site-selection fluorescence spectroscopies revealed that. the C hile pigments are indeed bound in the B800 binding site; this is the first work that formally proves that such non-native chlorine can be inserted cor rectly into LH2. (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Pub lished by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.