Structural Basis for Electron Transfer in Bacterial Photosynthesis

摘要

Triplet data for the primary donor in single crystals of bacterial reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Rhodopseudomonas viridis are interpreted in terms of the corresponding x-ray structures. The analysis of electron paramagnetic resonance data from single crystals (triplet zero field splitting and cation and triplet linewidth of the primary special pair donor of bacterial reaction centers) is extended to systems of a non-crystalline nature. A unified interpretation based on frontier molecular orbitals concludes that the special pair behaves like a supermolecule in all wild-type bacteria investigated here. However, in heterodimers of Rb. capsulatus (His(sup M200) changed to Leu or Phe with the result that the M-half of the special pair is converted to bacteriopheophytin) the special pair possesses the EPR properties more appropriately described in terms of a monomer. In all cases the triplet state and cation EPR properties appear to be dominated by the highest occupied molecular orbitals. These conclusions derived from EPR experiments are supplemented by data from Stark spectroscopy of reaction centers from Rb. capsulatus. 41 refs., 3 tabs.