TIME-GATED FLUORESCENCE OF BLEPHARISMIN, THE PHOTORECEPTOR PIGMENT FOR PHOTOMOVEMENT OF Blepharisma

— A computer-controlled apparatus for time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to measure fluorescence lifetimes, time-integrated and time-gated spectra of crude extracts of blepharismin, the photoreceptor pigment of the ciliated photoresponsive protozoan Blepharisma japonicum, in ethanol, aqueous solutions and detergent micelles. The effect of hydroxyl concentration has been investigated in both alcohol and water solutions. A short-living (0.2-0.4 ns) molecular species, emitting at 600 nm, is predominant in aqueous solutions at pH < 11.7, whereas in pure ethanol solutions an intermediate-living species (about 1 ns), still fluorescing at 600 nm, prevails. Upon increasing OFF concentration, a third, long-living (about4–6 ns) molecular species, emitting at 660 nm, is formed in all the examined media. This species has been tentatively identified as the negatively charged form of the photoreceptor pigment, whereas the short-living and the intermediate-living fluorescence emissions have been attributed respectively to the phenolic and the quinonic neutral forms of blepharismin. The phenolic form in its ground state is suggested to be the molecular species from which proton release occurs.