Spectroscopic Characterization of a Subunit Form of Light Harvesting Complex I from Rhodospirillum rubrum and Rhodobacter sphaeroides

The Light Harvesting Antenna of photosynthetic purple bacteria consists of two major types: an inner core (or LH1) antenna, located in the vicinity of of the reaction center, and an outer peripheral antenna (or LH2) surrounding the core antenna. The core antenna complexes usually have an absorbance maximum around 880 nm and are produced in a fixed stochiometry to the photochemical reaction center. The core antenna complexes can be readily extracted from the photosynthetic membranes [1].