Molecular Assembly of Photosynthetic Proteins using Peptide-tags

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25810097
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Bio-related chemistry
• Research Institution: Nagoya Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Kondo Masaharu 名古屋工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (20571219)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 光合成細菌 / 光収穫系 / アンテナ系 / 膜タンパク質 / 色素 / 電極基板 / 光電流計測 / 自己組織化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In bacterial photosynthetic membranes, light-harvesting complexes (LH1) absorb solar energy and transfer it to the reaction center (RC) at the primary photosynthetic process. The RC converts the absorbed energy into electrochemical energy. These reactions take place within a ‘core complex’ consisting of LH1 complex and RC. We are interested in understanding the rapid and efficient energy transfer between LH and RC, and have been aiming to construct an artificial solar energy device based on a natural solar energy conversion system. In this study, we prepared peptide tags were fused to the LH1 and LH2 from Rhodobactor sphaeroides, to allow immobilization of the LH1-RC, and LH2 complex on a substrate. The photocurrent generated by the adsorbed LH1-RC complexes depended on the wavelength of the irradiation light and His-tagged position of LH1-RC. The results indicated that the LH1-RC complexes were assembled by peptide-tags with retaining photochemical activity on the substrate.

Free Research Field

生体関連化学