Dimerization of core complexes as an efficient strategy for energy trapping in Rhodobacter sphaeroides
In the purple phototrophic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, light harvesting LH2 complexes transfer absorbed solar energy to RC-LH1-PufX core complexes, which are mainly found in the dimeric state. Many other purple phototrophs have monomeric core complexes and the basis for requiring dimeric cores is not fully established, so we analysed strains of Rba. sphaeroides that contain either native di