Note: Vibronic coupling in light-harvesting complex II revisited

TL;DR

This paper revisits vibronic coupling mechanisms in light-harvesting complex II, demonstrating Herzberg-Teller activity's role in modulating energy transfer, based on recent theoretical analysis and experimental comparisons.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical reassessment of vibronic coupling in LHCII, clarifying the mechanism as Herzberg-Teller activity and linking it to energy transfer dynamics.

Findings

Vibronic signatures are involved in LHCII energy transfer.

Herzberg-Teller activity is identified as the coupling mechanism.

Vibronic coupling modulates energy transfer in photosynthesis.

Abstract

We discuss our recent theoretical work on vibronic coupling mechanisms in a model energy transfer system in the context of previous 2DEV experiments on a natural light-harvesting system, light-harvesting complex II (LHCII), where vibronic signatures were suggested to be involved in energy transfer. In this comparison, we directly assign the vibronic coupling mechanism in LHCII as arising from Herzberg-Teller activity and show how this coupling modulates the energy transfer dynamics in this photosynthetic system.