Three seedling lethal mutants of Zea mays with impaired photosynthesis are described. These recessive mutants were selected on the basis of high chlorophyll fluorescence. They have normal chlorophyll pigmentation but are unable to fix CO(2) fully. Evidence is presented from fluorescence characteristics of isolated chloroplasts that both photosystem I and II mutants were isolated. Using conventi...

In response to excessive light, the thylakoid membranes of higher plant chloroplasts show dynamic changes including the degradation and reassembly of proteins, a change in the distribution of proteins, and large-scale structural changes such as unstacking of the grana. Here, we examined the aggregation of light-harvesting chlorophyll-protein complexes and Photosystem II core subunits of spinach...

Light damages photosynthetic machinery, primarily photosystem II (PSII), and it results in photoinhibition. A new photodamage model, the two-step photodamage model, suggests that photodamage to PSII initially occurs at the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) by light energy absorbed by manganese and that the PSII reaction center is subsequently damaged by light energy absorbed by photosynthetic pigme...

Two photosystem II-associated chlorophyll-protein complexes of Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 were identified. Their polypeptide compositions were similar to those of chlorophyll-containing antenna complexes of other cyanobacteria. Strain GT8B did not possess the complex responsible for 695-nm fluorescence and was unable to grow photoautotrophically; hence, this complex is necessary for phot...

Photosystem II uses metal ions to oxidize water to form O2. Two recent papers employ the new technique of serial femtosecond crystallography utilizing X-ray free-electron lasers and nanocrystals to obtain initial structures of intermediate states of photosystem II catalysis at the site of oxygen production.

Sensitive differential scanning calorimetry was employed to investigate thylakoid membrane structure. Calorimetric scans of chloroplast membranes suspended in a low ionic strength Hepesbuffered medium revealed endothermic transitions centered at the following temperatures ( degrees C): A (42.5), B (60.6), C(1) (64.9), C(2) (69.6), D (75.8), E (84.3), and F (88.9). The B transition was demonstra...

Protein cross-linking and radiolytic footprinting coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry were used to examine the structure of PsbP and PsbQ when they are bound to Photosystem II. In its bound state, the N-terminal 15-amino-acid residue domain of PsbP, which is unresolved in current crystal structures, interacts with domains in the C terminus of the protein. These interactions may serve...

Due to the great abundance of genomes and protein structures that today span a broad diversity of organisms, now more than ever before, it is possible to reconstruct the molecular evolution of protein complexes at an incredible level of detail. Here, I recount the story of oxygenic photosynthesis or how an ancestral reaction center was transformed into a sophisticated photochemical machine capa...

Treatment of spinach chloroplasts with glutaraldehyde causes an inhibition in the electron transport chain between the two photosystems. Measurements of O(2) flash yields, pH exchange, and fluorescence induction show that the O(2) evolving apparatus, photosystem II and its electron acceptor pool are not affected. The behavior of P700 indicates that its reduction but not its oxidation, is severe...

The temperature dependence of the relationship between the decline in activity of photosystem II (PSII) and a chlorophyll a fluorescence parameter combining the excitation pressure (1-qP) and efficiency of excitation energy capture by open PSII reaction centers in the light-acclimated state (Fv'/Fm') was investigated in cotton leaves. A formula for the prediction of PSII inactivation is propose...