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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 13;106(41):17255-60. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908989106. Epub 2009 Oct 7.

Theoretical examination of quantum coherence in a photosynthetic system at physiological temperature.

Author information

1
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Abstract

The observation of long-lived electronic coherence in a photosynthetic pigment-protein complex, the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex, is suggestive that quantum coherence might play a significant role in achieving the remarkable efficiency of photosynthetic electronic energy transfer (EET), although the data were acquired at cryogenic temperature [Engel GS, et al. (2007) Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems. Nature 446:782-786]. In this paper, the spatial and temporal dynamics of EET through the FMO complex at physiological temperature are investigated theoretically. The numerical results reveal that quantum wave-like motion persists for several hundred femtoseconds even at physiological temperature, and suggest that the FMO complex may work as a rectifier for unidirectional energy flow from the peripheral light-harvesting antenna to the reaction center complex by taking advantage of quantum coherence and the energy landscape of pigments tuned by the protein scaffold. A potential role of quantum coherence is to overcome local energetic traps and aid efficient trapping of electronic energy by the pigments facing the reaction center complex.

PMID:
19815512
PMCID:
PMC2762676
DOI:
10.1073/pnas.0908989106
[Indexed for MEDLINE]
Free PMC Article

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