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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01712-06
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Pigment Analysis of ‘Chlorothrix halophila’, a Green Filamentous Anoxygenic Phototrophic Bacterium

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287; Department of Biology, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington; Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 63130

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Blankenship{at}wustl.edu.

	Abstract

The pigment composition of ‘Chlorothrix halophila’, a filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium found in Baja California Sur, Mexico has been determined. Previous work showed that bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) c was the major pigment in ‘Cx. halophila’ but it was not clear if this bacterium also contained BChl a (17). Here we show that in addition to BChl c, a small amount of a pigment that is spectrally indistinguishable from BChl a is present in the cell extract of ‘Cx. halophila’. Nevertheless, the BChl a-like pigment from ‘Cx. halophila’ has different molecular weight and HPLC elution time than BChl a from other photosynthetic bacteria. Based on mass spectrometry and other spectroscopic analysis, we have determined that the BChl a-like pigment in ‘Cx. halophila’ contains a tetrahydrogeranylgeraniol tail rather than the phytol tail that is found in BChl a. The identities of carotenoids and of the major BChl c homologs in ‘Cx. halophila’ were also Bchls c are found to be farnesol-esterified and geranylgeraniol-esterified BChl c.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• van de Meene, A. M. L., Olson, T. L., Collins, A. M., Blankenship, R. E. (2007). Initial Characterization of the Photosynthetic Apparatus of "Candidatus Chlorothrix halophila," a Filamentous, Anoxygenic Photoautotroph. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4196-4203 [Abstract] [Full Text]