A5063926931- Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies
- Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques
- Algal biology and biofuel production
- Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
- Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures
- Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance
- Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2020-2022
Princeton University
2022
Under high light, oxygenic photosynthetic organisms avoid photodamage by thermally dissipating absorbed energy, which is called nonphotochemical quenching. In green algae, a chlorophyll and carotenoid-binding protein, light-harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR3), detects excess energy via pH drop serves as quenching site. Using combined in vivo vitro approach, we investigated within LHCSR3 from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. two distinct processes, individually controlled zeaxanthin, were...
Plants use energy from the sun yet also require protection against generation of deleterious photoproducts excess energy. Photoprotection in green plants, known as nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ), involves thermal dissipation and is activated by a series interrelated factors: pH drop lumen, accumulation carotenoid zeaxanthin (Zea), formation arrays pigment-containing antenna complexes. However, understanding their individual contributions interactions has been challenging, particularly for...
Single-molecule spectroscopy has been extensively used to investigate heterogeneity in static and dynamic behaviors on millisecond second timescales. More recently, single-molecule pump-probe emerged as a method access the femtosecond picosecond Here, we develop apparatus that is easily tunable across visible region demonstrate its utility widely-used fluorescent dye, Atto647N. A spectrally-independent, bimodal distribution of energetic relaxation time constants found, where one peak...
Photosynthetic organisms use pigment-protein complexes to capture the sunlight that powers most life on earth. Within these complexes, position of embedded pigments is all optimized for light harvesting. At same time, protein scaffold undergoes thermal fluctuations vary structure, and, thus, photophysics, complexes. While variations are averaged out in ensemble measurements, single-molecule spectroscopy provides ability probe conformational changes. We used fluorescence identify...
Abstract 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 thermal motion. The resultant variation in energy transfer has not yet been measured, and so how the efficiency is robust this variation, if any, determined. Here, we describe single-molecule pump-probe spectroscopy facile spectral tuning its application ultrafast...
Abstract Under high light conditions, oxygenic photosynthetic organisms avoid photodamage by thermally dissipating excess absorbed energy, which is called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). In green algae, a chlorophyll and carotenoid-binding protein, light-harvesting complex stress-related (LHCSR3), detects energy via pH serves as site. However, the mechanisms LHCSR3 functions have not been determined. Using combined in vivo vitro approach, we identify two parallel yet distinct processes,...