The team of researchers led by Prof. Michael Hippler from the University of Münster and Prof. Alexey Amunts of Stockholm University has now demonstrated, for the first time, that two monomers of photosystem I in plants can be incorporated into a dimer, and describes the molecular design of this new type of molecular machine. The findings, which were published in the journal Nature Plants, provide molecular data on the process of photosynthesis at a point of precision unmatched so far. They may only help to use cutting force. (i. e. preparation to give up electrons) of photosystem I more successfully in the future, for example, to produce hydrogen as an energy source.
The context: There are two photosynthesis complexes, called photosystems I and II, that work in the case of light of other wavelengths. The absorption of solar energy in photosystems I and II allows electrons to be transported within the molecular photosynthetic machine, resulting in the conversion of mild energy into chemical energy. In the process, electrons from photosystem I are transmitted to the ferredoxin protein.
In green algae, ferredoxin can transmit electrons from photosynthesis to an enzyme called hydrogenase, which then produces molecular hydrogenase. This molecular hydrogen is thus produced by providing gentle energy, i. e. it is produced in a renewable way and may only be a long-term energy source. The researchers asked the question: how does photosynthetic hydrogen production resemble the structural dynamics of the monomer-dimer I photosystem?
The effects in detail
The photosystem I homodimer of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is composed of 40 protein subunits with 118 transmembrane helices that offer a design for 568 photosynthetic pigments. Using cryogenic electron microscopy, the researchers demonstrated that the absence of subunits with the PsaH and Lhca2 designations leads to a head orientation towards the head of photosystem monomer I (PSI) and its related light-collecting proteins (LHCI). The light-collecting protein Lhca9 is the key detail that ensures this dimerization.
In the study, the researchers describe the exact maximum that can be obtained PSI-LHCI style in a solution of 2. 3 Ångström (an Ångström is one ten-millionth of a millimeter), add the flexible-bonding electron-emitting plastocyanin, and assign the type of identity and orientation to all pigments, as well as 621 water molecules that influence energy transmission pathways. mutant
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