Biophysical Journal 66: 2066-2072 (1994)
© 1994 the Biophysical Society

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Höök, F Articles by Brzezinski, P Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Höök, F Articles by Brzezinski, P

Light-induced voltage changes associated with electron and proton transfer in photosystem II core complexes reconstituted in phospholipid monolayers.

Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Göteborg, Sweden.

ABSTRACT

We have measured light-induced voltage changes (electrogenic events) in photosystem II (PSII) core complexes oriented in phospholipid monolayers. These events are compared to those measured in the functionally and structurally closely related reaction centers from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. In both systems we observed a rapid (< 100 ns) light-induced increase in voltage associated with charge separation. In PSII reaction centers it was followed by a decrease (decay) of approximately 14% of the charge-separation voltage and a time constant of approximately 500 microseconds. In bacterial reaction centers this decay was approximately 9% of the charge-separation voltage, and the time constant was approximately 200 microseconds. The decay was presumably associated with a structural change. In bacterial reaction centers, in the presence of excess water-soluble cytochrome c2+, it was followed by a slower increase of approximately 30% of the charge-separation voltage, associated with electron transfer from the cytochrome to the oxidized donor, P+. In PSII reaction centers, after the decay the voltage remained on the same level for > or = 0.5 s. In PSII reaction centers the electron transfer Q-AQB-->QA Q-B contributed with an electrogenicity of < or = 5% of that of the charge separation. In bacterial reaction centers this electrogenicity was < or = 2% of the charge-separation electrogenicity. Proton transfer to Q2-B in PSII reaction centers contributed with approximately 5% of the charge-separation voltage, which is approximately a factor of three smaller than that observed in bacterial reaction centers.