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Long‐range organization of bacteriochlorophyll in chlorosomes of Chlorobium tepidum investigated by cryo‐electron microscopy
Author(s) -
Oostergetel Gert T.,
Reus Michael,
Gomez Maqueo Chew Aline,
Bryant Donald A.,
Boekema Egbert J.,
Holzwarth Alfred R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2007.10.045
Subject(s) - chlorosome , bacteriochlorophyll , electron microscope , green sulfur bacteria , crystallography , biophysics , chemistry , biology , optics , biochemistry , physics , photosynthesis
Intact chlorosomes of Chlorobium tepidum were embedded in amorphous ice layers and examined by cryo‐electron microscopy to study the long‐range organization of bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) layers. End‐on views reveal that chlorosomes are composed of several multi‐layer tubules of variable diameter (20–30 nm) with some locally undulating non‐tubular lamellae in between. The multi‐layered tubular structures are more regular and larger in a C. tepidum mutant that only synthesizes [8‐ethyl, 12‐methyl]‐BChl d . Our data show that wild‐type C. tepidum chlorosomes do not have a highly regular, long‐range BChl c layer organization and that they contain several multi‐layered tubules rather than single‐layer tubules or exclusively undulating lamellae as previously proposed.