Model Lipid Membranes To Assess The Organization And Photophysical Properties Of Synthetic Pigments And Light-Harvesting Proteins

Photosynthetic thylakoid membranes contain a complex and adaptable network of proteins and lipids that regulate the light-harvesting, energy transfer and photoprotective abilities of land plants. It can be challenging to disentangle and understand the numerous interactions that control photosynthetic processes, however, it is possible to use simplified model systems to interrogate or manipulate components from the biological system in a controllable manner. This thesis describes the development and application of a range of model lipid membranes to: (i) enhance the absorption cross-section of photosynthetic proteins for applications in light-harvesting nanotechnologies, (ii) to characterise the energy transfer and quenching processes that occur between freely-diffusing organic fluorophores, and (iii) to quantify the quenching interactions that can occur between thylakoid proteins to improve our understanding of how their photophysical properties may be important in photoprotection. The model systems developed throughout this thesis led to a more comprehensive understanding of the photophysical interactions that may occur between synthetic fluorophores and photosynthetic proteins and how these interactions may modulate photoprotective processes in land plants.