scholarly journals Recent advances in the structural diversity of reaction centers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Gisriel ◽  
Chihiro Azai ◽  
Tanai Cardona
Keyword(s):  
Structural Diversity ◽  
Reaction Centers ◽  
Structural Basis ◽  
Photosynthetic Reaction Centers ◽  
Lipid Molecule ◽  
Axial Ligation ◽  
Green Sulfur ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Electron Donation ◽  
Transfer Chain

AbstractPhotosynthetic reaction centers (RC) catalyze the conversion of light to chemical energy that supports life on Earth, but they exhibit substantial diversity among different phyla. This is exemplified in a recent structure of the RC from an anoxygenic green sulfur bacterium (GsbRC) which has characteristics that may challenge the canonical view of RC classification. The GsbRC structure is analyzed and compared with other RCs, and the observations reveal important but unstudied research directions that are vital for disentangling RC evolution and diversity. Namely, (1) common themes of electron donation implicate a Ca2+ site whose role is unknown; (2) a previously unidentified lipid molecule with unclear functional significance is involved in the axial ligation of a cofactor in the electron transfer chain; (3) the GsbRC features surprising structural similarities with the distantly-related photosystem II; and (4) a structural basis for energy quenching in the GsbRC can be gleaned that exemplifies the importance of how exposure to oxygen has shaped the evolution of RCs. The analysis highlights these novel avenues of research that are critical for revealing evolutionary relationships that underpin the great diversity observed in extant RCs.

scholarly journals Structural Basis of Cyanobacterial Photosystem II Inhibition by the Herbicide Terbutryn

2011 ◽  
Vol 286 (18) ◽  
pp. 15964-15972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Broser ◽  
Carina Glöckner ◽  
Azat Gabdulkhakov ◽  
Albert Guskov ◽  
Joachim Buchta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structure ◽  
Photosystem Ii ◽  
Purple Bacteria ◽  
Chloride Ion ◽  
Reaction Centers ◽  
Structural Basis ◽  
Photosynthetic Reaction Centers ◽  
Thermophilic Cyanobacterium ◽  
Herbicide Binding ◽  
Water Oxidizing Complex

Herbicides that target photosystem II (PSII) compete with the native electron acceptor plastoquinone for binding at the QB site in the D1 subunit and thus block the electron transfer from QA to QB. Here, we present the first crystal structure of PSII with a bound herbicide at a resolution of 3.2 Å. The crystallized PSII core complexes were isolated from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus. The used herbicide terbutryn is found to bind via at least two hydrogen bonds to the QB site similar to photosynthetic reaction centers in anoxygenic purple bacteria. Herbicide binding to PSII is also discussed regarding the influence on the redox potential of QA, which is known to affect photoinhibition. We further identified a second and novel chloride position close to the water-oxidizing complex and in the vicinity of the chloride ion reported earlier (Guskov, A., Kern, J., Gabdulkhakov, A., Broser, M., Zouni, A., and Saenger, W. (2009) Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 16, 334–342). This discovery is discussed in the context of proton transfer to the lumen.

scholarly journals Excitonic structure and charge separation in the heliobacterial reaction center probed by multispectral multidimensional spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Song ◽  
Riley Sechrist ◽  
Hoang H. Nguyen ◽  
William Johnson ◽  
Darius Abramavicius ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Center ◽  
Charge Separation ◽  
Electronic Spectroscopy ◽  
Spectroscopic Studies ◽  
Primary Electron ◽  
Reaction Centers ◽  
Separation Mechanism ◽  
Photosynthetic Reaction Centers ◽  
Density Analysis ◽  
Function Relationship

AbstractPhotochemical reaction centers are the engines that drive photosynthesis. The reaction center from heliobacteria (HbRC) has been proposed to most closely resemble the common ancestor of photosynthetic reaction centers, motivating a detailed understanding of its structure-function relationship. The recent elucidation of the HbRC crystal structure motivates advanced spectroscopic studies of its excitonic structure and charge separation mechanism. We perform multispectral two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy of the HbRC and corresponding numerical simulations, resolving the electronic structure and testing and refining recent excitonic models. Through extensive examination of the kinetic data by lifetime density analysis and global target analysis, we reveal that charge separation proceeds via a single pathway in which the distinct A0 chlorophyll a pigment is the primary electron acceptor. In addition, we find strong delocalization of the charge separation intermediate. Our findings have general implications for the understanding of photosynthetic charge separation mechanisms, and how they might be tuned to achieve different functional goals.

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