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Yuseir Zeinalov, Professor, DSc

Antoaneta Popova, Associate Professor, PhD

Maya Velitchkova, Associate Professor, PhD

Mira Busheva, Associate Professor, PhD

Anelia Dobrikova, Research Associate, PhD

Rada Mutafchieva, Research Associate, PhD

Georgi Kostov, Research Associate, Dipl. Eng.

Radka Vladkova, Research Associate, PhD

Svetla Todinova, Research Associate, Dipl. Eng.

Nezabravka Nikolaeva, Chemist

Vasilena Krasteva, Biologist

Georgi Rashkov, Physicist

Dessislava Lazarova, PhD student

Kolio Dankov, PhD student

Pavlina Ivanova, PhD student

Daniela Stanoeva, Biologist

Dimitar Vasilev, Biologist

Stefka Germanova Taneva - Professor, Associate member of IBF – BAS

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http://bioweb.wku.edu (for more information see here )

  Photosystem II Core                   Bacteriorhodopsin

The research activity of the Department is oriented towards investigations of the mechanisms of the light-induced energy transduction in biological membranes (higher plants and plant mutants, thylakoid membranes of Synechocystis PCC6803 mutants; the adaptation of higher plants towards environmental stress conditions; involvement of reactive oxygen species in stress-induced inactivation processes; the influence of the structural organization and electric properties of the pigment-protein complexes on the efficiency of light energy conversion; organization and functional interactions of pigments in both photosystems; characteristics of thylakoid lipid bilayer and its role for the structural stability of main pigment-protein complexes and effectiveness of primary photosynthetic processes; the static and dynamic electric properties of biological ensembles; protein conformation and stability; protein adsorption on solid surfaces.

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Experimental Station "Aula Dei", CSIC; Zaragoza, Spain

Faculty of Physics, Sofia University, Bulgaria

Institute of Biophysics, BRC, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary

Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria

Institute of Plant Physiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria

Institute of Plant Physiology, BRC, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary

Institute of Medical Chemistry, CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany

University of Basque Country, Spain

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Absorption (VIS and UV) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy at room and low (77K) temperature, microelectrophoresis, electric-light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, polarography and flash-induced oxygen yields determination

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Protein conformation and stability of pigment-protein complexes

Y. Yamamoto, K. Komayama, M. Khatoon, J. Horie; M. Yoshioka; Y. Nakayama; M. Yoshida; S. Ohira; N. Morita; M. Velitchkova, I. Enami, D. Takenaka,  A. Yamashita, Quality control of Photosystem II: cleavage and aggregation of heat-damaged D1 protein in spinach thylakoids. Biochim. Biophys. Acta: Bioenergetics (2007) 1767, 838-846.

 K.M. Minkova, M.I. Tchorbadjieva, A.A. Tchernov, M. Stojanova, M.Ch. Busheva, Phycobiliproteins of Arthronema africanum – fractionation and purification, Biotechnology Lett. (2007) 29 (4) 647-651.  

A. Andreeva, S. Abarova, K. Stoichkova, R. Picorel, M. Velitchkova, Selective Photobleaching of Chlorophylls and Carotenoids in Photosystem I Particles under High-Light Treatment. Photochem. Photobiol. (2007)  83, 1301-1307.

A.G. Dobrikova, M.I. Dimitrov, S.G. Taneva, I.B. Petkanchin, Protein-coated b-Ferric Hydrous Oxide Particles. An Electrokinetic and Electrooptic Study, Colloids and Surfaces  B: Biointerfaces (2007)  56, 114-120.

A. Der, L. Kelemen, L. Fabian, S.G. Taneva, E. Fodor, T. Pali, A. Cupane, M.G. Cacace, J.J. Ramsden, Interfacial water structure controls protein confor, J. Phys. Chem. B (2007) 111, 5344-5350.

S.B. Krumova, S. Todinova, M. Busheva, S .G. Taneva, Kinetic nature of thermal destabilization of LHCII macroaggregates, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 78 (2004) 165-170.

A.G. Dobrikova, Zs. Varkonyi, S.B. Krumova, L. Kovacs, G.K. Kostov, S.J. Todinova, M.C. Busheva, S.G. Taneva, G. Garab, Structural rearrangement in chloroplast thylakoid membranes revealed by differential scanning calorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Thermo-optic effect, Biochemistry 42 (2003) 11272-11280.

S.G. Taneva, F.M. Goñi, N.P. Tuparev, I.Petkanchin, A. Dér, A. Muga, Effect of Asp85 replacement by Thr on the conformation, surface electric properties and stability of bacteriorhodopsin, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 209 (2002) 193-200.

Z. Cseh, S. Rajagopal, T. Tsonev, M. Busheva, E. Papp, G. Garab, Thermooptic effect in chloroplast thylakoid membranes. Thermal and light stability of pigment arrays with different levels of structural complexity, Biochemistry 39 (2000) 15250-15257.

N. Tuparev, A. Dobrikova, S.G. Taneva, Tz. Lazarova, Bacteriorhodopsin thermal stability: Influence of bound cations and lipids on the intrinsic protein fluorescence, Z. Naturforsch. 55c (2000) 355-360.

S.G. Taneva, A.A. Donchev, M.I. Dimitrov, A. Muga, Redox- and pH-dependent association of plastocyanin with lipid bilayers: Effect on protein conformation and thermal stability, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1463 (2000) 429-438.

S.G. Taneva, U. Kaiser, A.A. Donchev, M.I. Dimitrov, W. Mantele, A. Muga, Redox-induced conformational changes in plastocyanin: An infrared study, Biochemistry 38 (1999) 9640-9647.

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Energy transfer in photosynthetic membranes

E. L. Apostolova , I. Domonkos, A.G. Dobrikova , A. Sallai, B. Bogos, H. Wada, Z. Gombos, S.G. Taneva, Effect of phosphatidylglycerol depletion on the surface electric properties and the fluorescence emission of  thylakoid membranes, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Boil. (2008) (in press)

A. Andreeva, S. Abarova, K. Stoichkova, M. Velitchkova, Light induced changes in Raman scattering of carotenoid molecules in Photosystem I particles. SPIE (2007) v. 6604, 66042M

A. Andreeva, B. Vapirova, M. Busheva, Laser fluorescence spectroscopy of the light harvesting complex II in different aggregation states, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering (2007) v. 6604,. 66042C.

K. Stoichkova, M. Busheva, E.Apostolova, A. Andreeva, Changes in energy distribution between chlorophyll-protein complexes of thylakoid memnbranes from pea mutants with modified pigment content. II. Changes due to magnesium ions concentration, J.Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 83 (2006) 11-20.

E.L. Apostolova, A.G. Dobrikova, P.I. Ivanova, I.B. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Relationship between the organization of the supercomplex and the functions of the photosynthetic apparatus, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 83 (2006) 114-122.

M. Velitchkova, R. Picorel, Photobleaching of photosynthetic pigments in spinach thylakoid membranes. Effect of temperature, oxygen and DCMU, Biophys. Chem. 107 (2005) 25-32.

A.G. Ivanov, M. Krol, E.L. Apostolova, R.M. Morgan-Kiss, N. Naydenova, N.P.A. Huner, P.V. Sane, Oligomerization state of LHCII modulates the redox properties of the acceptor side of photosysytem II in Costata 2/133 mutant of pea, Physiol. Molec. Biol. Plants 11 (2005) 199-207.

A. Andreeva, M. Velitchkova, Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of carotenoids in photosystem I particles. Biophys. Chem. 114 (2005) 129-135.  

А. Andreeva, K. Stoichkova, M. Busheva, E. Apostolova, Zs. Varkonyi, G. Garab, Resonance Raman spectroscopy of xanthophylls in pea mutant thylakoid membranes, Biopolymers 74 (2004) 87-91.

А. Andreeva, K. Stoichkova, M. Busheva, E. Apostolova, Changes in the energy distribution between chlorophyll-protein complexes of thylakoid membranes from pea mutants with modified pigment content. I. Changes due to the modified pigment content, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 71 (2003) 153-162.

M. Busheva, A. Andreeva, E. Apostolova, Effect of modification of light-harvesting complex II on fluorescence properties of thylakoid membranes of Arabidopsis thaliana, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 56 (2000) 78-84.  

A. Andreeva, M. Velitchkova, Polarized fluorescence spectroscopy of oriented isolated spinach photosystem I particle, Photosynth. Res. 65 (2000) 15-28.

M. Busheva, M. Velichkova, Tz. Markova, Y. Zanev, Effect of cholesterol and benzyl alcohol on fluorescence transient of pea thylakoids, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 42 (1998) 240-244.

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Effect of stress factors on thylakoid membranes

P.I. Ivanova, A.G. Dobrikova, S.G. Taneva, E. L. Apostolova, Sensitivity of the photosynthetic apparatus to UV-A radiation: a role of light-harvesting complex II – photosystem II supercomplex organization, Radiat. Environ. Biophys. (2008) 47, 169-177.

N.N. Pouchkina-Stancheva., B.M. McGee, C. Boschetti, D. Tolleter, S. Chakrabortee, A.V. Popova, D. Macherel, D.K. Hincha, A. Tunnacliffe, Functional divergence of former alleles encoding LEA proteins in a desiccation-tolerant, ancient asexual invertibrate, Science (2007) 318, 268-271.

I. Fedina, M. Velitchkova, K. Georgieva, K. Demirevska, L. Simova, UV-B response of green and etiolated barley seedlings. (2007) Biol. Plant. 51, 699-706.

A.V Popova., D.K. Hincha,  Effects of cholesterol on dry bilayers: interactions between phosphatidylcholine unsaturation, and glycolipid or free sugar, Biophys. J. (2007) 93, 1204-1214.

A. Popova, M. Velitchkova, Y. Zanev, Effect of membrane fluidity on photosynthetic oxygen production reactions. Z. Naturforsch. (2007) 62c, 253-260.

I. Fedina, K. Georgieva, M. Velitchkova, I. Grigorova, Effect of pretreatment of barley seedlings with different salts on the level of UV-B induced and UV-B absorbing compounds. Environm. Exp. Bot. 56 (2006) 225-230.

D.K. Hincha, A.V. Popova, C. Cacela, Effects of sugars on the stability of lipid membranes during drying, in: Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes, (Tien H.T. and Ottora A.L. Eds), Elsevior, Review (2006) 189-217.  

A. V. Popova, D.K. Hincha, Effects of the sugar headgroup of a glycoglycerolipid on the phase behavior of phospholipid model membranes in the dry state, Glycobiology 15 (2005) 1150-1155.

M. Velitchkova, A. Popova, High light induced changes of 77K fluorescence emission of pea thylakoid membranes with altered membrane fluidity, Bioelectrochemistry 67 (2005) 81-90.

I. Fedina, M. Velitchkova, K. Georgieva, I. Grigorova, UV-B-induced compounds as affected by proline and NaCl in Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Alfa, Environm. Exp. Bot. 54 (2005) 182-191.  

A.V. Popova, D. K. Hincha, Specific interactions of tryptophan with phosphatidylcholine and digalactosyldiacylglycerol in pure and mixed bilayers in the dry and hydrated state, Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 132 (2004) 171-184.  

A.V. Popova, M. Velitchkova, Effect of membrane lipid order on the degree of freezing damage of thylakoid membranes, Cryo-letters 25 (2004) 255-264.

D. Parvanova, A. Popova, I. Zaharieva, P. Lambrev, T. Konstantinova, S.G. Tanеva, A. Atanassov, V. Goltsev, D. Djilianov, Effect of freezing on chlorophyll a fluorescence in tobacco, transformed to accumulate osmoprotectants, Photosynthetica 42 (2004) 179-185.  

M. Velitchkova, I. Yruela, M. Alfonso, P. Alonso, R. Picorel, Different kinetics of photoinactivation of photosystem I-mediated electron transport and P700 in isolated thylakoid membranes, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 69 (2003) 41-48.  

A.V. Popova, D.K. Hincha, Intermolecular interactions in dry and rehydrated pure and mixed bilayers of phosphatidylcholine and digalactosyldiacylglycerol: A Frourier transform infrared spectroscopy study, Biophys. J. l 85 (2003) 1682-1690.  

A.V. Popova, A.G. Heyer, D.K. Hincha, Differential destabilization of membranes by tryptophan and phenylalanine during freezing: The roles of lipid composition and membrane fusion, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1561 (2002) 109-118.  

A. Popova, M. Busheva, Cryoprotective effect of glycine betaine and glycerol is not based on a single mechanism, Cryo-letters 22 (2001) 293-298.  

M. Velitchkova, A. Popova, Tz. Markova, Effect of membrane fluidity on photoinhibition of isolated thylakoid membranes at room and low temperature, Z. Naturforsch. 56c (2001) 369-374.  

M. Velitchkova, I. Fedina, Response of photosynthesis of Pisum sativum to salt stress as affected by methyl jasmonate, Photosynthetica 35 (1998) 89-97.  

A.G. Ivanov, R.M. Morgan, G.R Gray, M.Y. Velitchkova, N.P.A. Huner, Temperature/light dependence development of selective resistance to photoinhibition of photosystem I, FEBS Lett. 430 (1998) 288-292.

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Light-induced electric signals

R. Tóth-Boconádi, A. Dér, S.G. Taneva, L. Keszthelyi, Excitation of the L intermediate of bacteriorhodopsin: Electric responses to test X-ray structures, Biophys. J. 90 (2006) 2651-2655.

R. Tóth-Boconádi, S.G. Taneva, L. Keszthelyi, Actinic light-density dependence of proton release from bacteriorhodopsin, Biophys. J. 89 (2005) 1-5.  

B. Sot, F. von Germar, W. Mantele, J.M. Valpuesta, S.G. Taneva, A. Muga, Ionic interactions at both inter-ring contact sites of GroEL are involved in transmission of the allosteric signal. A time-resolved infrared difference study, Protein Science 14 (2005) 2267-2274.  

R. Tóth-Boconádi, S.G. Taneva, L. Keszthelyi, Electric signals of light excited bacteriorhodopsin mutant D96N, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 65 (2001) 122-126.  

R. Tóth-Boconádi, A. Dér, S.G. Taneva, N. Tuparev, L. Keszthelyi, Buffer effect on electric signals of light-excited bacteriorhodopsin mutants, Eur. Biophys. J. 30 (2001) 140-146.  

R. Tóth-Boconádi, A. Szábo-Nagy, S.G. Taneva, L. Keszthelyi, Photoelectric response of the N intermediate of bR and its mutant T46V, FEBS Lett. 459 (1999) 5-8.

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Surface electric properties. Electro-optics.

N. Tuparev, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva,  Irreversible temperature-induced changes in purple membrane: An electro-optic study, J. Colloid and Interface Science 257 (2003) 121-126.  

A.G. Dobrikova, I.B. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Temperature-induced changes in the surface electric properties of thylakoids and photosystem II membrane fragments, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 209 (2002) 185-192.

N. Tuparev, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Buffer-induced changes of purple membrane surface electric properties: an electro-optical study, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 20 (2001) 145-153.

A. Dobrikova, R.M. Morgan, A. Ivanov, E. Apostolova, I. Petkanchin, N.P.A, Huner, S.G. Taneva, Electric properties of thylakoid membranes from pea mutants with modified carotenoid and chlorophyll-protein complexes composition, Photosynth. Res. 65 (2000) 165-174.  

A. Dobrikova, A. Ivanov, R.M. Morgan, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Contribution of LHC II complex to the electric properties of thylakoid membranes: an electric light scattering study of Chl b-less barley mutant, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 57 (2000) 33-40.

N. Tuparev, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva,  Irreversible temperature-induced changes in purple membrane: An electro-optic study, J. Colloid and Interface Science 257 (2003) 121-126.  

A.G. Dobrikova, I.B. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Temperature-induced changes in the surface electric properties of thylakoids and photosystem II membrane fragments, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 209 (2002) 185-192.

N. Tuparev, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Buffer-induced changes of purple membrane surface electric properties: an electro-optical study, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 20 (2001) 145-153.

A. Dobrikova, R.M. Morgan, A. Ivanov, E. Apostolova, I. Petkanchin, N.P.A, Huner, S.G. Taneva, Electric properties of thylakoid membranes from pea mutants with modified carotenoid and chlorophyll-protein complexes composition, Photosynth. Res. 65 (2000) 165-174.  

A. Dobrikova, A. Ivanov, R.M. Morgan, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Contribution of LHC II complex to the electric properties of thylakoid membranes: an electric light scattering study of Chl b-less barley mutant, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 57 (2000) 33-40.

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Interaction of substituted 1,4-antraquinones with biological membranes

E. Apostolova, S. Krumova, Tz. Markova, Tz. Filipova, M.T. Molina, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Role of LHCII organization in the interaction of substituted 1,4-anthraquinones with thylakoid membranes, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 78 (2005) 115-123.  

E. Apostolova, Tz. Markova, Tz. Filipova, M.T. Molina, S.G. Taneva, Influence of substituted 1,4-anthraquinones on the chlorophyll fluorescence and photochemical activity of pea thylakoid membranes, J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol. 70 (2003) 75-80.

E. Apostolova, S. Krumova, N. Tuparev, M.T. Molina, Tz. Filipova, I. Petkanchin, S.G. Taneva, Interaction of biological membranes with substituted 1,4-anthraquinones, Colloids and Sufaces B: Biointerfaces 29 (2002) 1-12.