A Bacterial Solar Battery

In some photosynthetic bacteria, spheres smaller than 1/10,000 of a millimeter harvest sunlight to produce energy. Light-harvesting protein complexes (shown in green and red) capture light and transfer it to a reaction center protein (shown in blue) that converts light into energy for the cell. Understanding these processes may inform how mankind can harvest sunlight for energy better in the future.

See this site for more information:
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/psures/

Related paper:
Melih Sener, Johan Strumpfer, John A. Timney, Arvi Freiberg, C. Neil Hunter, and Klaus Schulten. Photosynthetic vesicle architecture and constraints on efficient energy harvesting. Biophysical Journal, 99:67-75, 2010.
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/2dkv3dk

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• chlorophyll
• carotenoid
• photosynthesis
• protein
• sunlight
• chromatophore
• vesicle
• bacteria
• energy