With current knowledge about the primary events of photosynthesis and the availability of methods for isolating and characterizing the pigment-protein complexes of the photosynthetic membrane, it is an ideal time to conduct experiments designed to delineate how structural features are related to function. Dr. Loach's major emphasis will be to examine the core light- harvesting (LH) complex of photosynthetic bacteria. Recently he has been able to isolate a subunit form of this complex and has developed methods that allow the reconstitution of either the subunit form or LH-I from bacteriochlorophyll and the protein. This is a very powerful tool. It is planned to use these methods to systematically vary the structure of the pigment molecule and the two polypeptides in order to probe the interaction between the prosthetic groups and protein.
