We have characterized the influence of the protein environment on the spectral properties of the bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl) molecules of the peripheral light-harvesting (or LH2) complex from Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The spectral density functions of the pigments responsible for the 800 and 850 nm electronic transitions were determined from the temperature dependence of the Bchl absorption spectra in different environments (detergent micelles and native membranes). The spectral density function is virtually independent of the hydrophobic support that the protein experiences. The reorganization energy for the B850 Bchls is 220 cm(-1), which is almost twice that of the B800 Bchls, and its Huang-Rhys factor reaches 8.4. Around the transition point temperature, and at higher temperatures, both the static spectral inhomogeneity and the resonance interactions become temperature-dependent. The inhomogeneous distribution function of the transitions exhibits less temperature dependence when LH2 is embedded in membranes, suggesting that the lipid phase protects the protein. However, the temperature dependence of the fluorescence spectra of LH2 cannot be fitted using the same parameters determined from the analysis of the absorption spectra. Correct fitting requires the lowest exciton states to be additionally shifted to the red, suggesting the reorganization of the exciton spectrum.
A comparative analysis of the temperature dependence of the absorption spectra of the LH2 complexes from different species of photosynthetic bacteria, i.e., Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Rhodoblastus acidophilus, and Phaeospirillum molischianum, was performed in the temperature range from 4 to 300 K. Qualitatively, the temperature dependence is similar for all of the species studied. The spectral bandwidths of both B800 and B850 bands increases with temperature while the band positions shift in opposite directions: the B800 band shifts slightly to the red while the B850 band to the blue. These results were analyzed using the modified Redfield theory based on the exciton model. The main conclusion drawn from the analysis was that the spectral density function (SDF) is the main factor underlying the strength of the temperature dependence of the bandwidths for the B800 and B850 electronic transitions, while the bandwidths themselves are defined by the corresponding inhomogeneous distribution function (IDF). Slight variation of the slope of the temperature dependence of the bandwidths between species can be attributed to the changes of the values of the reorganization energies and characteristic frequencies determining the SDF. To explain the shift of the B850 band position with temperature, which is unusual for the conventional exciton model, a temperature dependence of the IDF must be postulated. This dependence can be achieved within the framework of the modified (dichotomous) exciton model. The slope of the temperature dependence of the B850 bandwidth is then defined by the value of the reorganization energy and by the difference between the transition energies of the dichotomous states of the pigment molecules. The equilibration factor between these dichotomous states mainly determines the temperature dependence of the peak shift.
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