Estimation of pigment stoichiometries in photosynthetic systems of purple bacteria: Special reference to the (absence of) second carotenoid in LH2

In this short communication we present the stoichiometric ratio of bacteriochlorophyll, bacteriopheophytin and carotenoids in a few photosynthetic purple bacteria complexes (whose two-dimensional or three-dimensional structures are well known) determined using the spectrum-reconstruction method (SRCM), An important conclusion of our pigment stoichiometric analysis is the evidence for the absence of the second carotenoid in the light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2). In the process, we also highlight the useful application of SRCM in determining the molar extinction coefficients of carotenoids present in LH1, LH2 or reaction centers for which these values are not known due to isolation problems and/or stability.