Demonstration of the key role played by the PufX protein in the functional and structural organization of native and hybrid bacterial photosynthetic core complexes

The PufX protein was studied in an experiment wherein the heterologous expression of a pufX gene from Rhodobacter capsulatus was made in a strain of Rhodobacter sphaeroides that does not have the native pufX gene. Results show that light energy can be efficiently transduced by the R. sphaeroides strain featuring the PufX protein. It was concluded that the protein can play a role in the organization of a bacterial photosystem for the efficient transduction of energy.