Photosynthetic pigment
Encyclopedia
A photosynthetic pigment (accessory pigment; chloroplast pigment; antenna pigment) is a pigment
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...

 that is present in chloroplast
Chloroplast
Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...

s or photosynthetic bacteria and captures the light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...

 energy necessary for photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...

.

Plants

Green plants
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 have six closely related photosynthetic pigments (in order of increasing polarity):
  • Carotene
    Carotene
    The term carotene is used for several related unsaturated hydrocarbon substances having the formula C40Hx, which are synthesized by plants but cannot be made by animals. Carotene is an orange photosynthetic pigment important for photosynthesis. Carotenes are all coloured to the human eye...

     - an orange pigment
  • Xanthophyll
    Xanthophyll
    Xanthophylls are yellow pigments that form one of two major divisions of the carotenoid group. The name is from Greek xanthos + phyllon , due to their formation of the yellow band seen in early chromatography of leaf pigments...

     - a yellow pigment
  • Phaeophytin a - a gray-brown pigment
  • Phaeophytin b - a yellow-brown pigment
  • Chlorophyll a
    Chlorophyll a
    Chlorophyll a is a specific form of chlorophyll used in oxygenic photosynthesis. It absorbs most energy from wavelengths of violet-blue and orange-red light. This photosynthetic pigment is essential for photosynthesis in eukaryotes, cyanobacteria and prochlorophytes because of its role as primary...

     - a blue-green pigment
  • Chlorophyll b
    Chlorophyll
    Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...

     - a yellow-green pigment

Chlorophyll a is the most common of the six, present in every plant that performs photosynthesis. The reason that there are so many pigments is that each absorbs light more efficiently in a different part of the spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....

. Chlorophyll a absorbs well at a wavelength of about 400-450 nm and at 650-700 nm; chlorophyll b at 450-500 nm and at 600-650 nm. Xanthophyll absorbs well at 400-530 nm. However, none of the pigments absorbs well in the green-yellow region, which is responsible for the abundant green we see in nature.

Bacteria

Like plants, the cyanobacteria use water as an electron donor for photosynthesis and therefore liberate oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

; they also use chlorophyll as a pigment. In addition, most cyanobacteria use phycobiliprotein
Phycobiliprotein
Phycobiliproteins are water-soluble proteins present in cyanobacteria and certain algae that capture light energy, which is then passed on to chlorophylls during photosynthesis. Phycobiliproteins are formed of a complex between proteins and covalently bound phycobilins that act as chromophores...

s, water soluble pigments which occur in the cytoplasm of the chloroplast, to capture light energy and pass it on to the chlorophylls. (Some cyanobacteria, the prochlorophytes, use chlorophyll b instead of phycobilin.) It is thought that the chloroplasts in plants and algae all evolved from cyanobacteria.

Several other groups of bacteria use the bacteriochlorophyll
Bacteriochlorophyll
Bacteriochlorophylls are photosynthetic pigments that occur in various phototrophic bacteria. They were discovered by Von Neil in 1932 . They are related to chlorophylls, which are the primary pigments in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Groups that contain bacteriochlorophyll conduct...

 pigments (similar to the chlorophylls) for photosynthesis. Unlike the cyanobacteria, these bacteria do not produce oxygen; they typically use hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless, very poisonous, flammable gas with the characteristic foul odor of expired eggs perceptible at concentrations as low as 0.00047 parts per million...

 rather than water as the electron donor.

Recently, a very different pigment has been found in some marine γ-proteobacteria
Proteobacteria
The Proteobacteria are a major group of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera....

: proteorhodopsin
Proteorhodopsin
Proteorhodopsin is a photoactive retinylidene protein in marine bacterioplanktons and eukaryotes. Just like the homologous pigment bacteriorhodopsin found in some archaea, it consists of a transmembrane protein bound to a retinal molecule and functions as a light-driven proton pump. Some members...

. It is similar to and probably originated from bacteriorhodopsin (see below under archaea).

Algae

Green algae
Green algae
The green algae are the large group of algae from which the embryophytes emerged. As such, they form a paraphyletic group, although the group including both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic...

, red algae
Red algae
The red algae are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae, and also one of the largest, with about 5,000–6,000 species  of mostly multicellular, marine algae, including many notable seaweeds...

 and glaucophyte
Glaucophyte
The glaucophytes, also known as glaucocystophytes or glaucocystids, are a small group of freshwater microscopic algae. Together with the red algae and green algae plus land plants , they form the Archaeplastida...

s all use chlorophylls. Red algae and glaucophytes also use phycobiliprotein
Phycobiliprotein
Phycobiliproteins are water-soluble proteins present in cyanobacteria and certain algae that capture light energy, which is then passed on to chlorophylls during photosynthesis. Phycobiliproteins are formed of a complex between proteins and covalently bound phycobilins that act as chromophores...

s, but green algae do not.

Archaea

Halobacteria
Halobacteria
In taxonomy, the Halobacteria are a class of the Euryarchaeota, found in water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. They are also called halophiles, though this name is also used for other organisms which live in somewhat less concentrated salt water...

 use the pigment bacteriorhodopsin
Bacteriorhodopsin
Bacteriorhodopsin is a protein used by Archaea, the most notable one being Halobacteria. It acts as a proton pump; that is, it captures light energy and uses it to move protons across the membrane out of the cell...

 which acts directly as a proton pump
Proton pump
A proton pump is an integral membrane protein that is capable of moving protons across a cell membrane, mitochondrion, or other organelle. Mechanisms are based on conformational changes of the protein structure or on the Q cycle.-Function:...

when exposed to light.
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