Chromatophore (bacteria)

This article is about the membrane organelle of photosynthetic bacteria. For other uses, see Chromatophore (disambiguation).

A chromatophore is a pigmented (colored), membrane-associated vesicle used to perform photosynthesis in some photosynthetic bacteria.

Structural model of the chromatophore showing ATP synthase (orange), light-harvesting complexes (green and red), cytochrome bc₁ (magenta), and photosynthetic reaction center (blue). Half of the model is transparent to show the bacteriochlorophylls represented as rings.^[1]

Chromatophores contain bacteriochlorophyll pigments and carotenoids.^[2] In purple bacteria, such as Rhodospirillum rubrum, the light-harvesting proteins are intrinsic to the chromatophore membranes. However, in green sulfur bacteria, they are arranged in specialised antenna complexes called chlorosomes.^[3]