The light state transition regulates the distribution of absorbed excitation energy between the two photosystems (PSs) of photosynthesis under varying environmental conditions and/or metabolic demands. In cyanobacteria, there is evidence for the redistribution of energy absorbed by both chlorophyll (Chl) and by phycobilin pigments, and proposed mechanisms differ in the relative involvement of the two pigment types. We assayed changes in the distribution of excitation energy with 77K fluorescence emission spectroscopy determined for excitation of Chl and phycobilin pigments, in both wild-type and state transition-impaired mutant strains of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 and Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Action spectra for the redistribution of both Chl and phycobilin pigments were very similar in both wild-type cyanobacteria. Both state transitionimpaired mutants showed no redistribution of phycobilin-absorbed excitation energy, but retained changes in Chl-absorbed excitation. Action spectra for the Chl-absorbed changes in excitation in the two mutants were similar to each other and to those observed in the two wild types. Our data show that the redistribution of excitation energy absorbed by Chl is independent of the redistribution of excitation energy absorbed by phycobilin pigments and that both changes are triggered by the same environmental light conditions. We present a model for the state transition in cyanobacteria based on the x-ray structures of PSII, PSI, and allophycocyanin consistent with these results.The effective absorption of sunlight by antenna pigments is the critical first step in photosynthesis. All oxygenic photosynthetic organisms share a common core antenna pigment complement of about 40 chlorophyll (Chl) a in PSII and about 100 Chl a in PSI (Rö gner et al., 1990). Photosynthetic organisms do not, however, limit their photon capturing ability to this level, but rather use some form of additional peripheral antenna pigments to increase the effective "absorption cross section" of one or both PSs. Higher plants and algae have evolved diverse mechanisms to increase their ability to absorb sunlight. In cyanobacteria, the soluble phycobiliproteins are organized into phycobilisomes (PBSs), which are primarily associated excitonically with PSII in a manner analogous to the family of intrinsic thylakoid membrane Chl a/b-containing light-harvesting complex polypeptides (LHCII), which serve the same function in higher plants (Glazer, 1984; Zilinskas and Greenwald, 1986).Both cyanobacteria and higher plants can regulate the efficiency of excitation energy transfer to the two PSs. The light state transition appears designed to adjust the relative activities of PSII and PSI in response to a dynamic environment or to changing metabolic demands (Yu et al., 1993). The mechanism in higher plants involves a reversible association of LHCII with PSII and PSI triggered by the redox state of intersystem electron transport carriers and driven by the reversible phosphorylation of LHCII (for review, see Allen, 1992; Woll...