The secondary electron donors to bacterial and PSI reaction centers

The secondary electron donors to bacterial and PSI reaction centers 

As stated on several occasions in the previous sections, electrons are delivered to bacterial and PSI-RC by electron carriers which can be isolated as water soluble homogeneous proteins, cytochromes of c type or plastocyanine. These carriers represent also the physiological electron acceptors for the 6/Cj complexes. It has been conceived, therefore, that these proteins can act as diffusable redox mediators between the different complexes, which in turn are thought to be laterally and independently mobile in the membrane lipid bilayer [219]. The location of these carriers would be the interface on one side of the asymmetrically arranged coupling membrane, namely towards the periplasmic space in bacteria (corresponding to the internal volume of chromatophores) or the inner lumen of thylakoids. 

The location of cytochrome C2 in the periplasmic space of purple photosynthetic bacteria has been demonstrated directly by its prompt release following the preparation of sphaeroplasts, and by its accessibility to antibodies in these preparations [220]. Cytochromes c are oxidized in single turnover experiments with a biphasic kinetics ( 1 2 and 200-400 /is) this pattern has been interpreted as due to the presence in chromatophores of both cyt. Cj and C2, which are oxidized in series [122]. 

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