Engineered photoproteins that give rise to photosynthetically-incompetent bacteria are effective as photovoltaic materials for biohybrid photoelectrochemical cells

Liu, Juntai, Friebe, Vincent M., Swainsbury, David J.K., Crouch, Lucy I., Szabo, David A., Frese, Raoul N. and Jones, Michael R. (2018) Engineered photoproteins that give rise to photosynthetically-incompetent bacteria are effective as photovoltaic materials for biohybrid photoelectrochemical cells. Faraday Discussions, 207. pp. 307-327. ISSN 1359-6640

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Abstract

Reaction centre/light harvesting proteins such as the RCLH1X complex from Rhodobacter sphaeroides carry out highly quantum-efficient conversion of solar energy through ultrafast energy transfer and charge separation, and these pigment-proteins have been incorporated into biohybrid photoelectrochemical cells for a variety of applications. In this work we demonstrate that, despite not being able to support normal photosynthetic growth of Rhodobacter sphaeroides, an engineered variant of this RCLH1X complex lacking the PufX protein and with an enlarged light harvesting antenna is unimpaired in its capacity for photocurrent generation in two types of bio-photoelectrochemical cells. Removal of PufX also did not impair the ability of the RCLH1 complex to act as an acceptor of energy from synthetic light harvesting quantum dots. Unexpectedly, the removal of PufX led to a marked improvement in the overall stability of the RCLH1 complex under heat stress. We conclude that PufX-deficient RCLH1 complexes are fully functional in solar energy conversion in a device setting and that their enhanced structural stability could make them a preferred choice over their native PufX-containing counterpart. Our findings on the competence of RCLH1 complexes for light energy conversion in vitro are discussed with reference to the reason why these PufX-deficient proteins are not capable of light energy conversion in vivo.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: DJKS and MRJ acknowledge the support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the UK (project BB/I022570/1). JL and MRJ acknowledge the funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK and the BBSRC Synthetic Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (EP/L016494/1). LIC acknowledges the studentship funding from the BBSRC. RNF acknowledges the support from the Dutch science foundation NWO for a vidi grant. MRJ, RNF, DJKS and VMF acknowledge the support from the EU COST Action TD1102 – Photosynthetic proteins for technological applications: biosensors and biochips (PHOTOTECH). Funding Information: DJKS and MRJ acknowledge the support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the UK (project BB/I022570/1). JL and MRJ acknowledge the funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK and the BBSRC Synthetic Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (EP/L016494/1). LIC acknowledges the studentship funding from the BBSRC. RNF acknowledges the support from the Dutch Science Foundation NWO for a vidi grant. MRJ, RNF, DJKS and VMF acknowledge the support from the EU COST Action TD1102 Photosynthetic proteins for technological applications: biosensors and biochips (PHOTOTECH). Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Uncontrolled Keywords: medicine(all),sdg 7 - affordable and clean energy ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 17 Aug 2022 12:31
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2024 16:38
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/87360
DOI: 10.1039/c7fd00190h

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