Refereed journal article or data article (A1)

Lipid Fingerprints and Cofactor Dynamics of Light-Harvesting Complex II in Different Membranes




List of AuthorsThallmair S, Vainikka PA, Marrink SJ

PublisherCELL PRESS

Publication year2019

JournalBiophysical Journal

Journal name in sourceBIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL

Journal acronymBIOPHYS J

Volume number116

Issue number8

Start page1446

End page1455

Number of pages10

ISSN0006-3495

eISSN1542-0086

DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2019.03.009


Abstract
Plant light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) is the key antenna complex for plant photosynthesis. We present coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of monomeric and trimeric LHCII in a realistic thylakoid membrane environment based on the Martini force field. The coarse-grained protein model has been optimized with respect to atomistic reference simulations. Our simulations provide detailed insights in the thylakoid lipid fingerprint of LHCII which compares well with experimental data from membrane protein purification. Comparing the monomer and trimeric LHCII reveals a stabilizing effect of trimerization on the chromophores as well as the protein. Moreover, the average chromophore distance shortens in the trimer leading to stronger excitonic couplings. When changing the native thylakoid environment to a model membrane the protein flexibility remains constant, whereas the chromophore flexibility is reduced. Overall, the presented LHCII model lays the foundation to investigate the mu s dynamics of this key antenna protein of plants.


Last updated on 2021-24-06 at 09:21