Selective binding of carotenoids with a shorter conjugated chain to the LH2 antenna complex and those with a longer conjugated chain to the reaction center from Rubrivivax gelatinosus.

Rubrivivax gelatinosus having both the spheroidene and spirilloxanthin biosynthetic pathways produces carotenoids (Cars) with a variety of conjugated chains, which consist of different numbers of conjugated double bonds (n), including the C=C (m) and C=O (o) bonds. When grown under anaerobic conditions, the wild type produces Cars for which n = m = 9-13, whereas under semiaerobic conditions, it additionally produces Cars for which n = m + o = 10 + 1, 13 + 1, and 13 + 2. On the other hand, a mutant, in which the latter pathway is genetically blocked, produces only Cars for which n = 9 and 10 under anaerobic conditions and n = 9, 10, and 10 + 1 under semianaerobic conditions. Those Cars that were extracted from the LH2 complex (LH2) and the reaction center (RC), isolated from the wild-type and the mutant Rvi. gelatinosus, were analyzed by HPLC, and their structures were determined by mass spectrometry and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The selective binding of Cars to those pigment-protein complexes has been characterized as follows. (1) Cars with a shorter conjugated chain are selectively bound to LH2 whereas Cars with a longer conjugated chain to the RC. (2) Shorter chain Cars with a hydroxyl group are bound to LH2 almost exclusively. This rule holds either in the absence or in the presence of the keto group. The natural selection of shorter chain Cars by LH2 and longer chain Cars by the RC is discussed, on the basis of the results now available, in relation to the light-harvesting and photoprotective functions of Cars.