Molecular structure and characterization of the Thermochromatium tepidum light-harvesting 1 photocomplex produced in a foreign host.

Purple phototrophic bacteria possess light-harvesting 1 and reaction center (LH1-RC) core complexes that play a key role in converting solar energy to chemical energy. High-resolution structures of LH1-RC and RC complexes have been intensively studied and have yielded critical insight into the architecture and interactions of their proteins, pigments, and cofactors. Nevertheless, a detailed picture of the structure and assembly of LH1-only complexes is lacking due to the intimate association between LH1 and the RC.