Description | Neil Hunter has made an outstanding contribution to the molecular biology of bacterial light-harvesting and reaction-centre complexes, and to the enzymology of carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis. He developed molecular-genetic tools for Rhodobacter sphaeroides and used them to map and clone all of the photosynthesis-related genes in this model organism. He pioneered the use of protein engineering for biophysical studies of light harvesting in bacteria. He identified the components of red shifts in chlorophyll proteins, provided the first spectroscopic data on isolated, membrane-bound reaction centres, and facilitated the crystallisation and projection-structure-determination of the LH2, LH1 and LH1-RC complexes of R. sphaeroides. He defined the order of assembly of the photosynthetic unit, and established the importance of carotenoids in LH assembly. He is the major contributor to the enzymology of cholorophyll biosynthesis, including magnesium chelatese ( the first committed step ), and his use of ultrafast light to initiate catalysis by NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase opened up new ways of studying enzymatic hydride and proton transfer. |