Toward the origin of exciton electronic structure in phycobiliproteins

Observation of robust energy transfer in the photosynthetic protein allophycocyanin using single-molecule pump-probe spectroscopy

Photosynthetic organisms convert sunlight to electricity with near unity quantum efficiency. Absorbed photoenergy transfers through a network of chromophores positioned within protein scaffolds, which fluctuate due to thermal motion. The resultant variation in the individual energy transfer steps has not yet been measured, and so how the efficiency is robust to this variation has not been determined. Here, we describe single-molecule pump-probe spectroscopy with facile spectral tuning and its application to the ultrafast dynamics of single allophycocyanin, a light-harvesting protein from cyanobacteria. We disentangled the energy transfer and energetic relaxation from nuclear motion using the spectral dependence of the dynamics. We observed an asymmetric distribution of timescales for energy transfer and a slower and more heterogeneous distribution of timescales for energetic relaxation, which was due to the impact of the protein environment. Collectively, these results suggest that energy transfer is robust to protein fluctuations, a prerequisite for efficient light harvesting.

Annihilation of Excess Excitations along Phycocyanin Rods Precedes Downhill Flow to Allophycocyanin Cores in the Phycobilisome of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Cyanobacterial phycobilisome complexes absorb visible sunlight and funnel photogenerated excitons to the photosystems where charge separation occurs. In the phycobilisome complex of Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, phycocyanin protein rods that absorb bluer wavelengths are assembled on allophycocyanin cores that absorb redder wavelengths. This arrangement creates a natural energy gradient toward the reaction centers of the photosystems. Here, we employ broadband pump–probe spectroscopy to observe the fate of excess excitations in the phycobilisome complex of this organism. We show that excess excitons are quenched through exciton–exciton annihilation along the phycocyanin rods prior to transfer to the allophycocyanin cores. Our observations are especially relevant in comparison to other antenna proteins, where exciton annihilation primarily occurs in the lowest-energy chlorophylls. The observed effect could play a limited photoprotective role in physiological light fluences. The exciton decay dynamics is faster in the intact phycobilisome than in isolated C-phycocyanin trimers studied in earlier work, confirming that this effect is an emergent property of the complex assembly. Using the obtained annihilation data, we calculate exciton hopping times of 2.2–6.4 ps in the phycocyanin rods. This value agrees with earlier FRET calculations of exciton hopping times along phycocyanin hexamers by Sauer and Scheer.

Multicolor Quantum Control for Suppressing Ground State Coherences in Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy

The measured multidimensional spectral response of different light harvesting complexes exhibits oscillatory features which suggest an underlying coherent energy transfer. However, making this inference rigorous is challenging due to the difficulty of isolating excited state coherences in highly congested spectra. In this work, we provide a coherent control scheme that suppresses ground state coherences, thus making rephasing spectra dominated by excited state coherences. We provide a benchmark for the scheme using a model dimeric system and numerically exact methods to analyze the spectral response. We argue that combining temporal and spectral control methods can facilitate a second generation of experiments that are tailored to extract desired information and thus significantly advance our understanding of complex open many-body structure and dynamics.

An Introduction to Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy

Coherent multidimensional spectroscopy is a field that has drawn much attention as an optical analogue to multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. Coherent multidimensional spectroscopic techniques produce spectra that show the magnitude of an optical signal as a function of two or more pulsed laser frequencies. Spectra can be collected in either the frequency or the time domain. In addition to improving resolution and overcoming spectral congestion, coherent multidimensional spectroscopy provides the ability to investigate and conduct studies based upon the relationship between different peaks. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general introduction to the area of coherent multidimensional spectroscopy, to provide a brief overview of current experimental approaches, and to discuss some emerging developments in this relatively young field.

Linker proteins enable ultrafast excitation energy transfer in the phycobilisome antenna system of Thermosynechococcus vulcanus

Comparison of kinetics of photoexcitation migration from PC620 to APC Core in extracted and intact pentacyclic phycobilisomes ofT. vulcanus. The extracted PBS does not have linker protein, while intact has them and they facilitate the migration.

Vibronic resonances facilitate excited-state coherence in light-harvesting proteins at room temperature

Until recently it was believed that photosynthesis, a fundamental process for life on earth, could be fully understood with semiclassical models. However, puzzling quantum phenomena have been observed in several photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, prompting questions regarding the nature and role of these effects. Recent attention has focused on discrete vibrational modes that are resonant or quasi-resonant with excitonic energy splittings and strongly coupled to these excitonic states. Here we unambiguously identify excited state coherent superpositions in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes using a new experimental approach. Decoherence on the time scale of the excited state lifetime allows low energy (56 cm(-1)) oscillations on the signal intensity to be observed. In conjunction with an appropriate model, these oscillations provide clear and direct experimental evidence that the persistent coherences observed originate from quantum superpositions among vibronic excited states.

Two-Color Nonlinear Spectroscopy for the Rapid Acquisition of Coherent Dynamics

There has been considerable recent interest in the observation of coherent dynamics in photosynthetic systems by 2D electronic spectroscopy (2DES). In particular, coherences that persist during the "waiting time" in a 2DES experiment have been attributed to electronic, vibrational, and vibronic origins in various systems. The typical method for characterizing these coherent dynamics requires the acquisition of 2DES spectra as a function of waiting time, essentially a 3DES measurement. Such experiments require lengthy data acquisition times that degrade the signal-to-noise of the recorded coherent dynamics. We present a rapid and high signal-to-noise pulse-shaping-based approach for the characterization of coherent dynamics. Using chlorophyll a, we demonstrate that this method retains much of the information content of a 3DES measurement and provides insight into the physical origin of the coherent dynamics, distinguishing between ground and excited state coherences. It also enables high resolution determination of ground and excited state frequencies.

Quantum mechanics of excitation transport in photosynthetic complexes: a key issues review

For a long time microscopic physical descriptions of biological processes have been based on quantum mechanical concepts and tools, and routinely employed by chemical physicists and quantum chemists. However, the last ten years have witnessed new developments on these studies from a different perspective, rooted in the framework of quantum information theory. The process that more, than others, has been subject of intense research is the transfer of excitation energy in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes, a consequence of the unexpected experimental discovery of oscillating signals in such highly noisy systems. The fundamental interdisciplinary nature of this research makes it extremely fascinating, but can also constitute an obstacle to its advance. Here in this review our objective is to provide an essential summary of the progress made in the theoretical description of excitation energy dynamics in photosynthetic systems from a quantum mechanical perspective, with the goal of unifying the language employed by the different communities. This is initially realized through a stepwise presentation of the fundamental building blocks used to model excitation transfer, including protein dynamics and the theory of open quantum system. Afterwards, we shall review how these models have evolved as a consequence of experimental discoveries; this will lead us to present the numerical techniques that have been introduced to quantitatively describe photo-absorbed energy dynamics. Finally, we shall discuss which mechanisms have been proposed to explain the unusual coherent nature of excitation transport and what insights have been gathered so far on the potential functional role of such quantum features.

Investigation of phycobilisome subunit interaction interfaces by coupled cross-linking and mass spectrometry

The phycobilisome (PBS) is an extremely large light-harvesting complex, common in cyanobacteria and red algae, composed of rods and core substructures. These substructures are assembled from chromophore-bearing phycocyanin and allophycocyanin subunits, nonpigmented linker proteins and in some cases additional subunits. To date, despite the determination of crystal structures of isolated PBS components, critical questions regarding the interaction and energy flow between rods and core are still unresolved. Additionally, the arrangement of minor PBS components located inside the core cylinders is unknown. Different models of the general architecture of the PBS have been proposed, based on low resolution images from electron microscopy or high resolution crystal structures of isolated components. This work presents a model of the assembly of the rods onto the core arrangement and for the positions of inner core components, based on cross-linking and mass spectrometry analysis of isolated, functional intact Thermosynechococcus vulcanus PBS, as well as functional cross-linked adducts. The experimental results were utilized to predict potential docking interactions of different protein pairs. Combining modeling and cross-linking results, we identify specific interactions within the PBS subcomponents that enable us to suggest possible functional interactions between the chromophores of the rods and the core and improve our understanding of the assembly, structure, and function of PBS.

Isolating quantum coherence using coherent multi-dimensional spectroscopy with spectrally shaped pulses

We demonstrate how spectral shaping in coherent multidimensional spectroscopy can isolate specific signal pathways and directly access quantitative details. By selectively exciting pathways involving a coherent superposition of exciton states we are able to identify, isolate and analyse weak coherent coupling between spatially separated excitons in an asymmetric double quantum well. Analysis of the isolated signal elucidates details of the coherent interactions between the spatially separated excitons. With a dynamic range exceeding 10(4) in electric field amplitude, this approach facilitates quantitative comparisons of different signal pathways and a comprehensive description of the electronic states and their interactions.

Interplay between vibrational energy transfer and excited state deactivation in DNA components

Femtosecond laser spectroscopies are used to examine a thymine family of systems chosen to expose the interplay between excited state deactivation and two distinct vibrational energy transfer (VET) pathways: (i) VET from the base to the deoxyribose ring; (ii) VET between neighboring units in a dinucleotide. We find that relaxation in the ground electronic state accelerates markedly as the molecular sizes increase from the nucleobase to the dinucleotide. This behavior directly reflects growth in the density of vibrational quantum states on the substituent of the base. Excited state lifetimes are studied at temperatures ranging from 100 to 300 K to characterize the thermal fluctuations that connect the Franck-Condon geometries and the conical intersections leading back to the ground state. An Arrhenius analysis yields an approximate excited state energy barrier of 13 meV in the thymine dinucleotide. In addition, we find that the transfer of vibrational energy from the base to the substituent suppresses thermal fluctuations across this energy barrier. The possibility that the solvent viscosity imposes friction on the reaction coordinate is examined by comparing thymine and adenine systems. Experiments suggest that the solvent viscosity has little effect on barrier crossing dynamics in thymine because the conical intersection is accessed through relatively small out-of-plane atomic displacements. Overall, we conclude that the transfer of vibrational quanta from thymine to the deoxyribose ring couples significantly to the internal conversion rate, whereas the neighboring unit in the dinucleotide serves as a secondary heat bath. In natural DNA, it follows that (local) thermal fluctuations in the geometries of subunits involving the base and deoxyribose ring are most important to this subpicosecond relaxation process.

Employing a Photosynthetic Antenna Complex to Interfacial Electron Transfer on ZnO Quantum Dot

Photosynthetic antenna complexes exhibit unidirectional energy-transport phenomena, which make them potential photosensitizers in interfacial electron-transfer processes. In the present study, we show the antenna function of phycocyanin-allophycocyanin (PC-APC) complex using transient emission and absorption spectroscopy. Interfacial electron-transfer dynamics in the PC-APC complex sensitized ZnO semiconductor quantum dot material is compared in native and denatured conditions. The downhill sequential energy transfer from a peripheral phycocyanin disk to a core allophycocyanin disk opens a new electron injection pathway from the allophycocyanin disk in addition to primary electron injection from directly photoexcited phycocyanin disk. Further, the large association of phycocayanobilin chromophores in PC-APC conjugates stabilizes the positive charge within the sensitizer, which leads to slower charge recombination in comparison to that in denatured condition. This study displays the antenna function of energy-efficient biomolecules in favor of better charge separation across the semiconductor interface.

Quest for spatially correlated fluctuations in the FMO light-harvesting complex

The light absorption in light-harvesting complexes is performed by molecules such as chlorophyll, carotenoid, or bilin. Recent experimental findings in some of these complexes suggest the existence of long-lived coherences between the individual pigments at low temperatures. In this context, the question arises if the bath-induced fluctuations at different chromophores are spatially correlated or not. Here we investigate this question for the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex of Chlorobaculum tepidum by a combination of atomistic theories, i.e., classical molecular dynamics simulations and semiempirical quantum chemistry calculations. In these investigations at ambient temperatures, only weak correlations between the movements of the chromophores can be detected at the atomic level and none at the more coarse-grained level of site energies. The often-employed uncorrelated bath approximations indeed seem to be valid. Nevertheless, correlations between fluctuations in the electronic couplings between the pigments can be found. Depending on the level of theory employed, also correlations between the fluctuations of site energies and the fluctuations in electronic couplings are discernible.