Accessory pigment

As accessory pigments or auxiliary pigments of photosynthesis is called the carotenoids , and phycobilins but also the chlorophyll b, which in the thylakoid of chloroplasts of eukaryotic plants and the blue-green algae ( Cyanobacteria are incorporated).

They support photosynthesis by absorbing light with wavelengths that are not absorbed by the chlorophyll itself. The energy is then transferred to the chlorophyll and can therefore be used photosynthetically. In vivo, these wavelengths absorbed by the accessory pigments can also be used to stimulate the typical fluorescence of chlorophyll, which proves the energy transfer between these pigments and chlorophyll.

literature

• OVS Heath: Physiology of Photosynthesis . Thieme, 1972, ISBN 3-13-490101-3