Isolation and purification of the reaction center (RC) and the core (RC-LH1) complex from Rhodobium marinum: the LH1 ring of the detergent-solubilized core complex contains 32 bacteriochlorophylls.

The reaction center (RC) and the core (RC-LH1) complex were isolated and purified from Rhodobium marinum; together with the LH1 complex [Meckenstock et al. (1992a) FEBS Lett. 311: 128], a complete set of RC, LH1 and RC-LH1 from the same wild-type strain of a purple photosynthetic bacterium can therefore now be made. Comparison of the BChl a/BPhe a ratio (determined by HPLC) between the RC and the RC-LH1 complexes lead us to the determination of the number of BChls in the LH1 ring to be 32.06+/-2.90, indicating that the LH1 ring from Rh. marinum consists of 16 alphabeta subunits.