Peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex the peridinin molecules to their neighboring chlorophyll molecule. PCP has served as a common model system for spectroscopy and for theoretical calculations relating to the protein's photophysics. PCP complexes are thought to occupy the thylakoid lumen. After energy transfer from the peridinin to the chlorophyll pigment, PCP complexes are believed to then transfer energy from the excited chlorophyll to membrane-bound light harvesting complexes. Peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex The peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complex (PCP or PerCP) is a soluble molecular complex consisting of the peridinin-chlorophyll a-protein bound to peridinin, chlorophyll, and lipids. The peridinin molecules absorb light in the blue-green wavelengths (470 to 550 nm)
Thylakoid centers, each consisting of an antenna complex that uses chlorophylls and accessory photosynthetic pigments such as carotenoids and phycobiliproteins to harvest light at a variety of wavelengths. Each antenna complex has between 250 and 400 pigment molecules and the energy they absorb is shuttled by resonance energy transfer to a specialized chlorophyll "a" at the reaction center of each photosystem. When either of the two chlorophyll "a" molecules at the reaction center absorbs energy, an electron is excited and transferred to an electron-acceptor molecule. Photosystem I contains a pair of chlorophyll "a" molecules, designated P700, at its reaction center that