The Bacterial Photosynthetic Apparatus

TLDR: This chapter describes the organized structure of photosynthetic apparatus of bacterial system and describes the structure and location of Chromatophore material, isolation and composition of purified chromatophores, and formation of the photosynthesis apparatus.

Abstract: Publisher Summary The unique physiological characteristic of the photosynthetic bacteria is their ability to grow anaerobically in the light, a property conferred on them by their photosynthetic pigment system Bacterial processes generally require an exogenous reductant The different genera of photosynthetic bacteria characteristically use reduced inorganic sulfur compounds, hydrogen, or organic substrates as reductant and also vary with respect to their ability to use carbon dioxide as sole carbon source This chapter describes the organized structure of photosynthetic apparatus of bacterial system It describes the structure and location of chromatophore material, isolation and composition of purified chromatophores, and formation of the photosynthetic apparatus Bacteria like other photosynthetic forms of life have both carotenoids and chlorophylls Carotenoids essentially harvest light at wavelengths, which are not absorbed by chlorophyll and also protect cells from photodynamic oxidation reactions Bacteriochlorophyll a is the most widely distributed type of chlorophyll recognized in photosynthetic bacteria Chromatophores represent a specialized structure that essentially houses the photosynthetic pigments and catalyzes photophosphorylation and photoreduction reactions