DNA-Based Supramolecular Artificial Light Harvesting Complexes

Solar radiation reaching this planet is distributed over a wide range of wavelengths, and efficient collection and conversion of solar energy requires tight harvesting over multiple wavelengths. Yet, the design, synthesis, and testing of novel, efficient, inexpensive light harvesting complexes are lacking. Engineered protein-DNA complexes are used here to self-assemble donor and acceptor molecules into artificial tight harvesting units with an association constant of 3.3 +/- 1.2 mu M-1. Excitation of the DNA-bound donors resulted in a 540% increase in emission from the protein-bound acceptors, and the presence of one acceptor for each pair of donors was sufficient to quench similar to 50% of donor emission. Successful self-assembly of DNA-based light harvesting units is expected to facilitate economic/efficient conversion of solar energy, and model systems to achieve this goat are demonstrated here. We anticipate that success along these lines would facilitate more efficient approaches for solar energy capture.