Biliproteins

Biliproteins, covalently bonded complexes of proteins and bile pigments, serve as light-harvesting pigments in photosynthesis and light-sensory pigments of photosynthetic organisms. Recent developments in the biochemistry and biophysics of these pigments are reviewed and an attempt is made to describe their functions of light-harvesting and of information transduction on a molecular level

Picosecond time-resolved fluorescence of phycobiliproteins

The α- and β-subunits of C-phycocyanin from Mastigocladus laminosus were prepared according to revised procedures. Both subunits are isolated as dimers, which can be dissociated into monomers with detergent mixtures. The fluorescence decay kinetics are similar for the respective monomers and dimers. In no case could they be fitted by only one (α-subunit) or two exponentials (β-subunit) which are predicted by theory for samples with a unique chromophore—protein arrangement containing one and two chromophores, respectively. It is suggested that there exists a heterogeneity among the chromophores of the subunits, which may persist in the highly aggregated complexes present in cyanobacterial antennas