Within the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplast, are two photosystems. Photosystem I optimally absorbs photons of a wavelength of 700 nm. Photosystem II optimally absorbs photons of a wavelength of 680 nm. The numbers indicate the order in which the photosystems were discovered, not the order of electron transfer. Under normal conditions electrons flow from PSII through cytochrome bf (a membr...

The photosystem I complex from Nicotiana tabacum, which has an alloploid genome, contains subunits of 17.5 and 18.5 kilodaltons whose N-terminal amino acid sequences are highly homologous. Comparative analysis of photosystem I subunits among N. tabacum and its ancestral plants, N. tomentosiformis and N. sylvestris, revealed that the 17.5 kilodalton subunit of N. tabacum derives from N. sylvestr...

We have used protein cross-linking with the zero-length cross-linker 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide, and radiolytic footprinting coupled with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, to examine the structure of higher-plant PsbO when it is bound to Photosystem II. Twenty intramolecular cross-linked residue pairs were identified. On the basis of this cross-linking data, spinach ...

Cyanobacteria use large pigment-protein complexes called phycobilisomes to harvest light energy primarily for photosystem II (PSII). We used a series of mutants with partial to complete reduction of phycobilisomes to examine the effects of antenna truncation on photosystem function in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The antenna mutants CB, CK, and PAL expressed increasing levels of functional PSII ...

A method is reported for the isolation of a highly resolved oxygen-evolving photosystem II reaction center preparation. This preparation can be separated from the more complex photosystem II membranes isolated by the procedure of Berthold et al. [(1981) FEBS Lett. 134, 231-2341 by use of octylglucopyranoside at elevated ionic strengths; the oxygen-evolving material can be collected by centrifug...

In photosynthesis, light-harvesting chlorophyll molecules are shunted between photosystems by phosphorylation of the protein to which they are bound. An anchor for the phosphorylated chlorophyll-protein complex has now been identified in the reaction centre of chloroplast photosystem I. This finding supports the idea that molecular recognition, not membrane surface charge, governs the architect...

Three mechanisms of oxygen reduction by chloroplast lamellae in the presence of autoxidizable electron acceptors can be differentiated by product analyis in the presence or absence of either dibromothymoquinone (DBMIB) or superoxide dismutase (SOD) : 1) H20 2 is the product of two-electron oxygen reduction by 2,3-dimethyl-5,6-methylenedioxy-pbenzoquinone, involving only photosystem II. This rea...

Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy (FTIR DS) has been widely used to study the structural details of electron transfer cofactors (and their binding sites) in many types of photosynthetic protein complexes. This review focuses in particular on work that has been done to investigate the A₁cofactor in photosystem I photosynthetic reaction centers. A review of this subject area last...

A mild tryptic digestion of chloroplast membranes eliminates the effects of saturating concentrations of cations (3 to 5 millimolar MgCl(2)) on chlorophyll fluorescence yield, membrane stacking, and photosystem II photochemical efficiency in spinach. At the same time, the negative surface potential of the membranes is increased (by trypsin) as revealed by studies with 9-aminoacridine. High conc...

Light activation of NADP-linked glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.13) and light inactivation of glucose-6-P dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49) appear to be modulated within pea leaf chloroplasts by mediators which are reduced by photosynthetic electron flow from the photosystem I reaction center. Dichlorophenyl-1, 1-dimethylurea inhibition of this modulation can be completely reversed by asco...