New Energy Resource ?

As well as green plants and algae, some bacteria are also capable of using the energy in sunlight, to get their energy through photosynthesis. The green bacteria are particularly specialised for growth at very low light intensities.

The ability of green bacteria to grow at very low light intensities depends on the way the light-absorbing molecules - bacteriochlorophylls - are organised. In plants and algae, the chlorophylls are associated with pigment-binding proteins.

Recently, in the  green bacteria has been suggested as the source of light energy. The scientist determined the structure of the chlorophyll molecules in green bacteria that are responsible for harvesting light energy, and suggested that one day could be used to build artificial photosynthetic systems, such as those that convert solar energy to electrical energy.

Donald Bryant, Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology at Penn State and one of the team’s leaders, said that the ability to capture light energy and rapidly deliver it to where it needs to go is essential to these bacteria, some of which see only a few photons of light per chlorophyll per day.

The scientist hopes, someday the result will be applicable to build artificial photosynthetic systems that convert solar energy to electricity.

Source and Credit : ScienceDaily