First direct measurement of light-absorption on a single light-harvesting system

 Chlorosomes are specific light-harvesting complexes of photosynthetic bacteria, made of aggregated bacteriochlorophyll and other photosynthetic pigments. They are able to absorb and transfer light energy with high efficiency, enabling chlorosome-equipped bacteria to survive in dark places. Structure and function of chlorosomes have been investigated by several methods which however do not allow to uncover molecular level of chlorosome organisation sufficiently. Therefore, in this work the measurement of direct light absorption on single isolated chlorosomes were done for the first time. The heterogenous inner structure was revealed indicating that the results reported so far have been negatively influenced by this type of structural disorder. The work published is therefore significant for further experiments and understanding the principles of chlorosome functioning, too.