Excited states and primary photochemical reactions in the photosynthetic bacterium Heliobacterium chlorum

The charge separation and excited states of antenna bacteriochlorophyll in membrane fragments of the recently discovered photosynthetic bacterium Heliobacterium chlorum were studied by absorbance-difference spectroscopy. Formation of singlet excited states of bacteriochlorophyll g with a lifetime of 200 ps or less was observed as the disappearance of the ground state absorption bands. From the absorbance-difference spectra, it was concluded that the primary photochemical reaction consists of the transfer of an electron from the primary donor P-798 to a possibly bacteriochlorophyll c-like pigment absorbing at 670 nm. Electron transfer to the secondary acceptor occurred with a time constant of about 500 ps. The midpoint potential of this acceptor (between -450 and -560 mV) and the absence of significant absorbance changes in the near-infrared upon its reduction suggest that this acceptor is an iron-sulfur center. It is concluded that the primary photochemistry of H. chlorum is similar to that of green sulfur bacteria.