Elucidation of the light-harvesting mechanism of nitrogen-fixing Anabaena heterocysts

November 17, 2021

Leading to reduction in environmental burdens owing to nitrogen fertilizer dependence

A joint research group of Okayama University and Tokyo Metropolitan University together with the RIKEN CSRS and others elucidated the protein expression and excitation-energy-transfer mechanisms in the heterocysts formed under nitrogen-starvation conditions in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. The results indicate that intermediates of photosystem II (PSII) molecular complexes exist in the heterocysts and that the excitation energy is not transferred from the PSII intermediates to photochemical system I (PSI). These results provide insights into the survival strategies of photosynthetic organisms under oligotrophic conditions.

Original article

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Bioenergetics doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2021.148509

R. Nagao, M. Yokono, Y. Ueno, Y. Nakajima, T. Suzuki, K. Kato, N. Tsuboshita, N. Dohmae, J.-R. Shen, S. Ehira, S. Akimoto,

"Excitation-energy transfer in heterocysts isolated from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 as studied by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy".

Contact

Naoshi Dohmae

Unit Leader

Biomolecular Characterization Unit