Pigment conformation and pigment-protein interactions in the reconstitutedLhcb4 antenna protein

Resonance Raman spectra of the native Lhcb4 antenna protein are compared wi th those of a recombinant protein prepared by in vitro refolding of its pol ypeptide, overexpressed in Escherichia coli, with added pigments [Giuffra e t at. (1996) Eur. J. Biochem. 238, 112-120]. The results indicate that the native pigment conformation is reproduced almost perfectly in the reconstit uted protein, with only small differences which are attributed to a slight shift in the Soret absorption peak of two or more chlorophylls, This proced ure therefore represents a model system for the investigation of site-direc ted mutant LHC proteins, which are otherwise very difficult to obtain, (C) 2001 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.