Isolation and Characterization of a Light-Harvesting Chlorophyll a/b Protein Complex Associated with Photosystem I

A chlorophyll a/b protein complex has been isolated from a resolved native photosystem I complex by mildly dissociating sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The chlorophyll a/b protein contains a single polypeptide of molecular weight 20 kilodaltons, and has a chlorophyll a/b ratio of 3.5 to 4.0. The visible absorbance spectrum of the chlorophyll a/b protein complex showed a maximum at 667 nanometers in the red region and a 77 K fluorescence emission maximum at 681 nanometers. Alternatively, by treatment of the native photosystem I complex with lithium dodecyl sulfate and Triton, the chlorophyll a/b protein complex could be isolated by chromatography on Sephadex G-75. Immunological assays using antibodies to the P(700)-chlorophyll a-protein and the photosystem II light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein show no cross-reaction between the photosystem I chlorophyll a/b protein and the other two chlorophyll-containing protein complexes.