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Unraveling the Hidden Nature of Antenna Excitations

  • Chapter
Photosynthesis in silico

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 29))

The three main parameters that determine the electronic structure and dynamics of the photosynthetic antenna excitations are the resonant (exciton) coupling energy, the inhomogeneous spectral broadening, and the exciton—lattice coupling energy. Generally, information about these factors can be obtained by optical spectroscopy. However, in conventional optical spectroscopy only ensemble-averaged data are accessible. Adequate theoretical modeling is, therefore, required to uncover various hidden parameters. Here, we focus on the peripheral LH2 and core LH1 antenna complexes from purple bacteria. These bacteriochlorophyll-containing antennas show quasi-linear optical spectra that allow detailed spectro-scopic studies not only at cryogenic temperatures but at physiological temperatures as well. The strongly overlapping chlorophyll spectra in higher plant antennas are in that respect much less informative. Secondly, the bacterial antennas present wonderfully ordered quasi- one-dimensional structures of pigment molecules amenable for straightforward physical modeling. Complexity of the antennas and incomplete structural data render similar level of multi-parameter modeling in higher plants more challenging.

We notice that the generally applied disordered Frenkel exciton model, while sufficient for describing steady-state absorption spectra, falls short in characterization of the fluorescence emission properties of the bacterial antennas. Therefore, an excitonic polaron model is introduced, much better suitable for description of the relaxed excited electronic states in the disordered one-dimensional bacteriochloro-phyll aggregates representing the emitting antenna structures with relatively strong interaction between excitons and lattice vibrations. The static disorder considerably reduces critical exciton—lattice coupling energy required for initiation of the smooth exciton self-trapping transition. It also allows coexistence of multiple self-trapped excitons in the same lattice. Such a situation in regular structures is only possible at higher dimensions. The exciton self-trapping might promote energy transport and trapping processes in bacterial photosynthesis by broadening the LH2 and LH1 antenna spectra and by maximizing their fluorescence emission rate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, Riia, Tartu, 142, 51014, Estonia

    Arvi Freiberg

  2. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Riia, Tartu, 23, 51010, Estonia

    Arvi Freiberg

  3. Institute of Physics, Savanoriu, Vilnius, 231, LT-02300, Lithuania

    Gediminas Trinkunas

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  1. Arvi Freiberg
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  2. Gediminas Trinkunas
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Estonia

    Agu Laisk

  2. Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Nové Hrady, Czech Republic

    Ladislav Nedbal

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Freiberg, A., Trinkunas, G. (2009). Unraveling the Hidden Nature of Antenna Excitations. In: Laisk, A., Nedbal, L., Govindjee (eds) Photosynthesis in silico . Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9237-4_4

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