Group Publications

Check out the latest publications from the Photosynthesis Research Group.

2025

Gene-edited algae reveal role of FNR location in CET

Rewiring photosynthesis with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing

Tethering ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase to photosystem I promotes photosynthetic cyclic electron transfer

Plant Cell

Cryo electron tomography of intact spinach chloroplasts

Cryo-Electron Tomography reveals the machinery of photosynthesis

Molecular architecture of thylakoid membranes within intact spinach chloroplasts

eLife

PSII dimers

Proteomic analysis of photosystem stoichiometry

From cytoplasm to lumen—mapping the free pools of protein subunits of three photosynthetic complexes using quantitative mass spectrometry

FEBS Letters

2024

vibrational coupling within an antenna

Chromophore vibrations prevent energetic relaxation

Resonant Vibrational Enhancement of Downhill Energy Transfer in the C-Phycocyanin Chromophore Dimer

J Phys Chem Letts

Single-molecule detection of the encounter complex

Transient complex underpinning biological ET revealed

Single-Molecule Detection of the Encounter and Productive Electron Transfer Complexes of a Photosynthetic Reaction Center

J Am Chem Soc

Photosynthesis Dimer

Artificial protein mimics key reaction centre feature

De novo design of proteins housing excitonically coupled chlorophyll special pairs

Nature Chemical Biology

Lipid binding in RC-LH1 complex

Lipid binding stablises RC-LH1 dimer

Sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol is required for dimerization of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides RC-LH1 core complex

Biochem J

Designed to bind cover

De novo designed bilin-binding proteins

Generalized biomolecular modeling and design with RoseTTAFold All-Atom

Science

Liposome sof RCLH1 and LH2

Recapitulation of bacterial membrane organisation in liposomes

Excitation energy transfer in proteoliposomes reconstituted with LH2 and RC-LH1 complexes from Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Bioscience Reports

Photosynthetic control

Preventing photoinhibition of PSI

Photosynthetic control at the cytochrome b6f complex

Plant Cell

2023

Single molecule study on LHCII clustering

Single molecule study of LHCII interactions

Energetic driving force for LHCII clustering in plant membranes

Science Advances

Photosynthetic oscillations

Role of cyclic electron flow in suppressing carbon losses

PGR5 is required to avoid photosynthetic oscillations during light transitions

J Ex Botany

OCP no singlet fission

Probing the OCP for singlet fission

Twisted Carotenoids Do Not Support Efficient Intramolecular Singlet Fission in the Orange Carotenoid Protein

J Phys Chem Lett

Phycobillisome energy transfer

Energy transfer in cyanobacteria

Phycobilisome's Exciton Transfer Efficiency Relies on an Energetic Funnel Driven by Chromophore-Linker Protein Interactions

J Am Chem Șoc

cytochrome bc1 with subunit IV

Elusive subunit of bc1 complex revealed

Cryo-EM structure of the four-subunit Rhodobacter sphaeroides cytochrome bc1 complex in styrene maleic acid nanodiscs

PNAS

RC-LH1 complex from Viridis

Commentary on function of the LH1 γ subunit

Photosynthesis in the near infrared: the γ subunit of Blastochloris viridis LH1 red-shifts absorption beyond 1000 nm

Biochemical Journal

RC-LH1 complex

Comprehensive RC-LH1 Review

The structure and assembly of reaction centre-light-harvesting 1 complexes in photosynthetic bacteria

Bioscience Reports

proteome of the thylakoid

Thylakoid proteome in Cyanobacteria

Absolute quantification of cellular levels of photosynthesis-related proteins in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Photosynthesis Research

hope2: a pgr5-dependent high CET mutant

Hope2 is a high CET mutant of Arabidopsis

High cyclic electron transfer via the PGR5 pathway in the absence of photosynthetic control

Plant Physiology

Proteomic comparison of phospho mutants

Proteomic comparison of Arabidopsis phospho-mutants

STN7 is not essential for developmental acclimation of Arabidopsis to light intensity

Plant Journal

2022

Protease FtsH4

HLIPs as proteolytic substrates of FtsH4

FtsH4 protease controls the biogenesis of PSII complex by dual regulation of high light-inducible proteins

Plant Communications

LH2 analysis

Dynamics of a light harvesting complex unveiled

Phasor Analysis Reveals Multicomponent Fluorescence Kinetics in the LH2 Complex from Marichromatium purpuratum

J. Physical. Chem. B

LH2 and LHCII plus dyes

Augmentation of light harvesting spectral range

Enhancing the spectral range of plant and bacterial light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes with various synthetic chromophores incorporated into lipid vesicles

J. Photochemical. Photobiol. B

LH2 complex

New LH2 structures show how nature tunes absorption

Cryo-EM structures of light-harvesting 2 complexes from Rhodopseudomonas palustris reveal the molecular origin of absorption tuning

PNAS

Rhodopsin-Based Photo-Electrosynthetic System

R. eutropha strain engineered to grow using CO2 + Light

Engineering a Rhodopsin-Based Photo-Electrosynthetic System in Bacteria for CO2 Fixation

ACS Synthetic Biology

Single cell Raman profiling

CO2-fixing microbes identified by single-cell Raman

Revealing CO2-Fixing SAR11 Bacteria in the Ocean by Raman-Based Single-Cell Metabolic Profiling and Genomics

BioDesign Research

Purple bacterial Complexes

Review on carotenoids in photosynthesis

Engineering purple bacterial carotenoid biosynthesis to study the roles of carotenoids in light-harvesting complexes

Methods in Enzymology

Blue light killing campylobacter

Killing Campy with Blue light

Exploiting Violet-Blue Light to Kill Campylobacter jejuni: Analysis of Global Responses, Modeling of Transcription Factor Activities, and Identification of Protein Targets

mSystems

Zeta Carotene isomerase

Synechocystis slr1599 has Z-ISO activity

Zeta-Carotene Isomerase (Z-ISO) Is Required for Light-Independent Carotenoid Biosynthesis in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Microorganisms

b6f synechocystis

Structure of unique cyanobacterial cytb6f subunit revealed

Cryo-EM structures of the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cytochrome b6f complex with and without the regulatory PetP subunit

Biochemical Journal

Gemmatimonas phototrophica RC-LH1

Unique, double-ring RC complex in Gobi desert bug

2.4-Å structure of the double-ring Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem

Science Advances

Pigment biosynthesis

Pigment biosynthesis review

The terminal enzymes of (bacterio)chlorophyll biosynthesis

Royal Society Open Science

bc1-RC FRET

Colocation of cytochrome bc1 and photosynthetic reaction centres

FRET measurement of cytochrome bc1 and reaction centre complex proximity in live Rhodobacter sphaeroides cells

BBA Bioenergetics

Far-red light acclimation in PSI

Tetrameric to trimeric PSI transition in Far-Red

Changes in supramolecular organization of cyanobacterial thylakoid membrane complexes in response to far-red light photoacclimation

Science Advances

PafA phosphatase

PafA phosphatase has a distinct functional role in carbon acquisition

A widely distributed phosphate-insensitive phosphatase presents a route for rapid organophosphorus remineralization in the biosphere

PNAS

2021

LH2

Rhodobacter sphaeroides LH2 structure

Cryo-EM Structure of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides Light-Harvesting 2 Complex at 2.1 Å

Biochemistry

PhotoRedesign Project

The PhotoRedesign consortium

Redesigning the photosynthetic light reactions to enhance photosynthesis

Plant Journal

Effect of DCMu on stomata development

PQ redox state negatively regulates SPCH and MUTE expression

Inhibition of Arabidopsis stomatal development by plastoquinone oxidation

Current Biology

RC-LH1 sphaeroides dimer

Seamless join between LH1 bacteriochlorophylls provides path for excitation migration between RCs

Cryo-EM structure of the dimeric Rhodobacter sphaeroides RC-LH1 core complex at 2.9 Å: the structural basis for dimerisation

Biochemical Journal

Lab vs Field Arabidopsis

Photosynthetic acclimation to Field conditions involves adoption of high and low light lab traits

Comparative proteomics of thylakoids from Arabidopsis grown in laboratory and field conditions

Plant Direct

PufY in RC-LH1

Protein Y and PufX cooperate to allow quinone exit from RC-LH1

Cryo-EM structure of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides RC-LH1 core monomer complex at 2.5 Å

Biochemical Journal

Rhodospirillum rubrum RC-LH1 Qp site

A general mechanism for exporting quinols from RC-LH1 complexes

Cryo-EM structure of the Rhodospirillum rubrum RC-LH1 complex at 2.5 Å

Biochemical Journal

TRAP transporter active site

Role of key protein in lignin biodegradation revealed

The structural basis for high-affinity uptake of lignin-derived aromatic compounds by proteobacterial TRAP transporters

FEBS Journal

New assembly platform

A new platform for development of genetically stable cyanobacterial biocatalysts for sustainable light-driven production of valuable products

Combinatorial assembly platform enabling engineering of genetically stable metabolic pathways in cyanobacteria

Nucleic Acids Research

Cyclase mechanism

Cyclase mechanism revealed

How the O2-dependent Mg-protoporphyrin monomethyl ester cyclase forms the fifth ring of chlorophylls.

Nature Plants

Chloroplasts imaged by SIM

Relevance of Dynamic Thylakoid Stacking

Dynamic thylakoid stacking and state transitions work synergistically to avoid acceptor-side limitation of photosystem I

Nature Plants

LH2 structure from M. Purpuratum

LH2 structure from M. purpuratum

The 2.4 Å cryo-EM structure of a heptameric light-harvesting 2 complex reveals two carotenoid energy transfer pathways.

Science Advances

PMF components in plant leaves

Composition of chloroplast PMF

Proton motive force in plant photosynthesis dominated by ΔpH in both low and high light

Plany Physiology

LHCII in a lipid nanodisc

Environmental effect on LHCII conformation

Membrane-dependent heterogeneity of LHCII characterized using single-molecule spectroscopy

Biophysical Journal

Airyscan image of Chlamydomonas cells

New method for cloning large genes

A recombineering pipeline to clone large and complex genes in Chlamydomonas

Plant Cell

YCF54 effect on cyanobacterial growth

Ycf54 regulates cyclase activity

Evolution of Ycf54-independent chlorophyll biosynthesis in cyanobacteria.

PNAS

RC-LH1 structure from R. palustris

Structure of RC-LH1 from R. palustris

Structures of Rhodopseudomonas palustris RC-LH1 complexes with open or closed quinone channels

Science Advances

Qn site of cytb6f

Review on cytb6f structure and function

Cytochrome b6f – Orchestrator of photosynthetic electron transfer.

BBA Bioenergetics

Phosphorus transport pathways

Key marine phosphorus transporter characterised

Transporter characterisation reveals aminoethylphosphonate mineralisation as a key step in the marine phosphorus redox cycle

Nature Communications

Nanaopatterns of RC-LH1 and LH2

Nanopatterned LH2 and RC-LH1

Multicomponent Nanoscale Patterning of Functional Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes by Local Oxidation Lithography

Advanced Materials Interfaces

Copper trafficking in C. Jejuni

Copper trafficking genes identified

Genes Linking Copper Trafficking and Homeostasis to the Biogenesis and Activity of the cbb3-Type Cytochrome c Oxidase in the Enteric Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni

Frontiers in Microbiology

For publications prior to 2021 please see the full lists below: