Photosynthetic electron transfer cytochrome

The extent to which an electron carrier is oxidized or reduced during photosynthetic electron transfer can sometimes be observed directly with a spectrophotometer. When chloroplasts are illuminated with 700 nm light, cytochrome/, plastocyanin, and plastoquinone are oxidized. When chloroplasts are illuminated with 680 nm light, however, these electron carriers are reduced. Explain. 

Many kinetic studies have been carried out on the reactions of cytochrome c. This work, as is the case for other electron-transfer proteins, has followed two general courses. One approach involves the study of reactions of cytochrome c with inorganic and organic reagents and with isolated electron-transfer proteins. The second approach has involved the use of intact or partially disrupted mitochondrial or photosynthetic electron-transfer systems. 

The general composition of the complex in all systems studied so far is also universal they always contain two h-type cytochromes, one cytochrome of c type and a high potential Fe-S protein (the Rieske protein, so called after its discoverer in Complex III of the respiratory chain of beef heart mitochondria). In addition to these functions in electron transfer, the h/cj complexes also play a role in energy transduction, since they represent an essential part of the proton translocating apparatus of photosynthetic electron transfer chains. 

Electron carriers and electron-transfer proteins Electron-transfer reactions in photosynthesis involve electron carriers or electron-transfer proteins, including, among others, quinones, cytochromes, and iron-sulfur proteins. In the following, we present a summary of the carriers or associated proteins that are primarily involved in photosynthetic electron-transfer reactions, along with a listing in Fig. 20. Although ATP is not an electron carrier, it is included in the figure to remind us of the common components present in the structures of ATP and NAD(P) molecules [see Fig. 20 (A)]. 

The two-domain, structural motif in FNR represents a common structural feature in a large class of enzymes that catalyze electron transfer between a nicotinamide dinucleotide molecule and a one-electron carrier. Beside the photosynthetic electron-transfer enzyme, others non-photosynthetic ones include flavodoxin reductase, sulfite reductase, nitrate reductase, cytochrome reductase, and NADPH-cyto-chrome P450 reductase. FNR belongs to the group of so-called dehydrogenases-electron transferases, i.e., flavoproteins that catalyze electron transfer from two, one-electron donor molecules to a single two-electron acceptor molecule. 

The physiological role of cytochromes c is unknown. Since they are found in a wide variety of bacteria with different metabolic pathways, roles in photosynthetic electron transfer, nitrogen assimilation,and NO detoxification have been proposed. These class II cyts c have redox potentials varying from —10 mV to +150 mV (Table ij s,27i,273... 

Two types of the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) complexes are known in pxirple bacteria, the distribution of which depends on bacterial species (1). In one type, the RC complexes have a cytochrome subunit with four c-type hemes. The other type of RC does not have the cytochrome subunit (Fig. 1). Three demensional structures of both types of RCs have been revealed in Rhodopseudomonas viridis (2) and Rhodobacter sphaeroides (3) the former has the bound cytochrome subunit. The major difference between the two types of RC is only in the presence or absence of the cytochrome subunit and the structure of the other three peptides with pigments and quinones is similar to each other. Evolutionary relationships between the two types of RC and the role of the bound cytochrome subunit are interesting subjects in the photosynthetic electron transfer system in purple bacteria. 

A theoretical analysis of charge distribution within supercomplexes (or clusters in which the movement of diffusible carriers is restricted) has been developed by Lavergne et al [4]. This theory predicts the evolution of the redox state of the carriers under continuous illumination or flash excitation for any cluster stoichiometry. The predictive power of this treatment is illustrated by the analysis of the light-induced oxidation of primary and secondary donors in isolated centers of Rhodopseudomonas viridis (Fig. 3). In this case, it is definitely established that the secondary donors (cytochromes) are irreversibly bound to the reaction center. In the absence of mediators, no electron exchange is expected to occur between photocenters. In the presence of 200yM ascorbate, only two of the four cytochromes (cyt 556 and cyt 559) are in their reduced state prior to the illumination. As expected, the apparent equilibrium constant between P and the cytochromes measured during the course of illumination is much lower than that computed from the value of the redox potentials (K = 50 for cyt 559 and K 1500 for cyt 556). The fit between the experimental data and the theoretical simulation (dashed lines) is excellent and clearly demonstrates that the measurement of electron transfer reactions under weak illumination is a powerful tool to characterize the degree of structuration of a photosynthetic electron transfer chain. 

Studies (see, e.g., (101)) indicate that photosynthesis originated after the development of respiratory electron transfer pathways (99, 143). The photosynthetic reaction center, in this scenario, would have been created in order to enhance the efficiency of the already existing electron transport chains, that is, by adding a light-driven cycle around the cytochrome be complex. The Rieske protein as the key subunit in cytochrome be complexes would in this picture have contributed the first iron-sulfur center involved in photosynthetic mechanisms (since on the basis of the present data, it seems likely to us that the first photosynthetic RC resembled RCII, i.e., was devoid of iron—sulfur clusters). 

Cytochromes, catalases, and peroxidases all contain iron-heme centers. Nitrite and sulfite reductases, involved in N-O and S-O reductive cleavage reactions to NH3 and HS-, contain iron-heme centers coupled to [Fe ] iron-sulfur clusters. Photosynthetic reaction center complexes contain porphyrins that are implicated in the photoinitiated electron transfers carried out by the complexes. 

Willner I, Willner B (1991) Artificial Photosynthetic Model Systems Using Light-Induced Electron Transfer Reactions in Catalytic and Biocatalytic Assemblies. 159 153-218 Woggon W-D (1997) Cytochrome P450 Significance, Reaction Mechanisms and Active Site Analogues. 184 39 - 96... 

In chemical terms the photoinduced electron transfer results in transfer of an electron across the photosynthetic membrane in a complex sequence that involves several donor-acceptor molecules. Finally, a quinone acceptor is reduced to a semiquinone and subsequently to a hydroquinone. This process is accompanied by the uptake of two protons from the cytoplasma. The hydroquinone then migrates to a cytochrome be complex, a proton pump, where the hydroquinone is reoxidized and a proton gradient is established via transmembrane proton translocation. Finally, an ATP synthase utilizes the proton gradient to generate chemical energy. Due to the function of tetrapyrrole-based pigments as electron donors and quinones as electron acceptors, most biomimetic systems utilize some... 

Eventually, the electrons in PQBH2 pass through the cytochrome b6f complex (Fig. 19-49). The electron initially removed from P680 is replaced with an electron obtained from the oxidation of water, as described below. The binding site for plastoquinone is the point of action of many commercial herbicides that kill plants by blocking electron transfer through the cytochrome b6f complex and preventing photosynthetic ATP production. 

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