Properties of surfactants in photosynthesis

Surfactants are widely used in the study of photosynthesis, and they are often used in the separation, extraction and purification of various pigment-protein complexes and the crystallization of proteins in the biofilm of the photosynthetic system. It can be said that it is the successful application of various surfactants that has made the research of photosynthetic membranes in-depth to the current molecular level, so that we have a further understanding of various structures and physiological functions in the photosynthetic system. Nowadays, it has become a conventional technique to use various surfactants to solubilize photosynthetic membranes and to study the structure and function of their components. However, in many research efforts, the application of surfactants is generally empirical. Due to the lack of understanding of the effects and effects of surfactants on the pigment-protein complex in the photosynthetic membrane and the pigment and protein in the complex during separation and purification, not only are the types and properties of the isolated complexes different, but also it is difficult to understand the real situation in vivo according to the separation results, which affects the interpretation of the results and the accuracy of the established structural model. Therefore, it is necessary to study the influence of surfactants deeply.

In addition, surfactants and photosynthetic membrane lipids also have similar structural characteristics, that is, they are both amphoteric molecules. Therefore, studying the role of surfactants is also helpful to understand and understand the interaction between membrane lipids, pigments and proteins in photosynthetic membranes.