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Science 4 May 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5825, pp. 747 - 750
DOI: 10.1126/science.1140030
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Reports

Protein Dynamics Control the Kinetics of Initial Electron Transfer in Photosynthesis

Haiyu Wang,1,2 Su Lin,1,2 James P. Allen,2 JoAnn C. Williams,2 Sean Blankert,1,2 Christa Laser,1,2 Neal W. Woodbury1,2*

The initial electron transfer dynamics during photosynthesis have been studied in Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction centers from wild type and 14 mutants in which the driving force and the kinetics of charge separation vary over a broad range. Surprisingly, the protein relaxation kinetics, as measured by tryptophan absorbance changes, are invariant in these mutants. By applying a reaction-diffusion model, we can fit the complex electron transfer kinetics of each mutant quantitatively, varying only the driving force. These results indicate that initial photosynthetic charge separation is limited by protein dynamics rather than by a static electron transfer barrier.

1 Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, 1001 South McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287–5201, USA.
2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–1604, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Nwoodbury{at}asu.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Electron transfer in the Rhodobacter sphaeroides reaction center assembled with zinc bacteriochlorophyll.
S. Lin, P. R. Jaschke, H. Wang, M. Paddock, A. Tufts, J. P. Allen, F. I. Rosell, A. G. Mauk, N. W. Woodbury, and J. T. Beatty (2009)
PNAS 106, 8537-8542
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