Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 24: Poster: Femtosecond spectroscopy
MO 24.17: Poster
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 16:00–18:00, P2
Ultrafast Energy Transfer and Chromophore Dynamics in Xanthorhodopsin — •Miriam Colindres Rojas1, Melanie Geier2, Annik Jakob1, Ilka Haferkamp2, Ekkehard Neuhaus2, and Rolf Diller1 — 1Fachbereich Physik, TU Kaiserslautern, Germany — 2Fachbereich Biologie, TU Kaiserslautern, Germany
Xanthorhodopsin from the extreme halophile eubacterium Salinibacter ruber is one of the simplest bioenergetic systems for collecting light using excited state energy transfer. This member of the retinal protein family is a light driven transmembrane proton pump with two chromophores: a retinal and additionally the carotenoid salinixanthin[1]. Our aim is to investigate the excited state dynamic of both salinixanthin and retinal in xanthorhodopsin applying transient VIS/VIS and VIS/mid-IR femtosecond absorption spectroscopy on a ms resp. sub-ps timescale. The proton pump cycle and the interaction between the two chromophores in xanthorhodopsin are being studied. Experiments include the selective excitation of either salinixanthin or retinal. We will compare xanthorhodopsin with bacteriorhodopsin and sensorrhodopsin[2] to reveal differences and similarities between these retinal proteins[3] as a contribution for a better understanding of the primary reactions of xanthorhodopsin.