Photosynthesis at Queen Mary University of London

Research into light harvesting at Queen Mary is led by the groups of Dr. Alexander Ruban, and Professor John Allen.

The molecular mechanism of NPQ - a conformational change in LHCII leading to energy transfer from chlorophyll a to lutein 1 (Ruban et al., Nature, 2007)

Fluorescence lifetime image of an LHCII crystal

The allosteric model for NPQ (Horton et al., 2008, FEBS J)

Selected Publications

Ruban, A.V., Berera, R., Ilioaia,C., van Stokkum, I.H.M., Kennis, J.T.M., Pascal, A. A., van Amerongen, H., Robert, B., Horton, P. and van Grondelle, R. (2007) Identification of a mechanism of photoprotective energy dissipation in higher plants. Nature, 450, 575-578.

Pascal, A.A., Liu, Z., Broess, K., van Oort, B., van Amerongen, H., Wang, C. Horton, P., Robert, B., Chang, W. and Ruban, A. (2005) Molecular basis of photoprotection and control of photosynthetic light-harvesting. Nature, 436, 134-137.

Ruban, A.V , Wentworth, M., Yakushevska, A.E., Keegstra, W., Lee, P.J., Dekker, J.P., Jansson, S., Boekema, E. and Horton, P. (2003) Plants lacking the main light harvesting complex retain photosystem II macro-organisation. Nature , 421, 648-652.

Allen JF (2003) State transitions - a question of balance. Science 299: 1530-1532.