Energy transfer in photosystem I. Time resolved fluorescence of the native photosystem I complex and its core complex Original Research Article

Energy transfer within isolated spinach photosystem I (PS I) complexes with different antenna size were studied using time-resolved picosecond and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. In both the native PS I complexes and the PS I core complexes lacking the outer chlorophyll a/b antenna we observed a fast dominating emission component ≈ 35 ps at room temperature which is associated with the trapping process by the reaction centre. In the native PS I complex there also appears a 120 ps component which was not observed in the PS I core complex. This component most likely represents an energy transfer from low energy pigments in the light-harvesting complex I antenna and into the core. Due to a very fast energy equilibration (< 10 ps) it was not possible to resolve the energy transfer at room temperature. At 77 K, however, it was possible to follow the energy transfer from F690 to F720 with a transfer time of ≈ 35 ps within the native PS I complex and slightly longer, 78 ps, in the PS I core complex. The native PS I complex also exhibited in the region 700–740 nm a 102 ps component which originates from F720 and represents energy transfer from F720 to P700 at 77 K. At low temperatures the PS I core complex exhibited a component of 161 ps which is associated with F720 and has the same function as the 102 ps component of the native PS I complex. We conclude that the F720 emission originates from pigments in the core antenna system. This emission also increases at low temperature. In the native PS I complex there is an initial increase in the F720 emission as the temperature is lowered but at 77 K the F735 emission originating from LHC I dominates.