Bacteria photosynthesis

A Scherz and WW Parson (1986) Interactions of bacteriochlorophylls in antenna chlorophyll-protein complexes of photosynthetic bacteria. Photosynthesis Res 9 21-32... 

C Kirmaier and D Molten (1989) Primary photochemistry of reaction centers from the photosynthetic purple bacteria. Photosynthesis Res 13 225-260... 

KA Schmidt and H-W TrissI (1998) Combined fluorescence and photovoltage studies on chlorosome containing bacteria. Photosynthesis Res 58 43-55... 

Bacterial chlorophylls see Photosynthetic bacteria, Photosynthesis, Chlorophyll. 

Despite considerable efforts very few membrane proteins have yielded crystals that diffract x-rays to high resolution. In fact, only about a dozen such proteins are currently known, among which are porins (which are outer membrane proteins from bacteria), the enzymes cytochrome c oxidase and prostaglandin synthase, and the light-harvesting complexes and photosynthetic reaction centers involved in photosynthesis. In contrast, many other membrane proteins have yielded small crystals that diffract poorly, or not at all, using conventional x-ray sources. However, using the most advanced synchrotron sources (see Chapter 18) it is now possible to determine x-ray structures from protein crystals as small as 20 pm wide which will permit more membrane protein structures to be elucidated. 

Anoxygenic photosynthesis Type of photosynthesis in green and purple bacteria in which oxygen is not produced. 

Autotrophy A unique form of metabolism foimd only in bacteria. Inorganic compounds (e.g., NH3, N02-, S2, and Fe2+) are oxidized directly (without using sunlight) to yield energy. This metabolic mode also requires energy for C02 reduction, like photosynthesis, but no lipid-mediated processes are involved. This metabolic mode has also been called chemotrophy, chemoautotrophy, or chemolithotrophy. 

Bacterial Photosynthesis A light-dependent, anaerobic mode of metabolism. Carbon dioxide is reduced to glucose, which is used for both biosynthesis and energy production. Depending on the hydrogen source used to reduce COj, both photolithotrophic and photoorganotrophic reactions exist in bacteria. 

Plants (particularly seedlings, which cannot yet accomplish efficient photosynthesis), as well as some bacteria and algae, can use acetate as the only source of carbon for all the carbon compounds they produce. Although we saw that the TCA cycle can supply intermediates for some biosynthetic processes, the... 

In 1931, comparative study of photosynthesis in bacteria led van Niel to a more general formulation of the overall reaction ... 

Flowever, many photosynthetic bacteria, such as purple sulfur and green sulfur bacteria contain special bacteriochlorophyll compounds (not chlorophyll a) and carry out anoxygenic photosynthesis without producing oxygen ... 

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic representation of the three types of anoxygenic ([1] and [2]) and oxygenic ([3]) photosynthesis found in plants and bacteria, (b) Phylogenetic tree based on 16S-rRNA sequence comparisons featuring only photo synthetic phyla. 

In contrast to common usage, the distinction between photosynthetic and respiratory Rieske proteins does not seem to make sense. The mitochondrial Rieske protein is closely related to that of photosynthetic purple bacteria, which represent the endosymbiotic ancestors of mitochondria (for a review, see also (99)). Moreover, during its evolution Rieske s protein appears to have existed prior to photosynthesis (100, 101), and the photosynthetic chain was probably built around a preexisting cytochrome be complex (99). The evolution of Rieske proteins from photosynthetic electron transport chains is therefore intricately intertwined with that of respiration, and a discussion of the photosynthetic representatives necessarily has to include excursions into nonphotosynthetic systems. 

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