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Title: Site-specific and compensatory mutations imply unexpected pathways for proton delivery to the Q[sub B] binding site of the photosynthetic reaction center

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States)
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory, IL (United States)

In photosynthetic reaction centers, a quinone molecule, Q[sub B], is the terminal acceptor in light-induced electron transfer. The protonatable residues Glu-L212 and Asp-L213 have been implicated in the binding of Q[sub B] and in proton transfer to Q[sub B] anions generated by electron transfer from the primary quinone Q[sub A]. Here the authors report the details of the construction of the Ala-L212/Ala-L213 double mutant strain by site-specific mutagenesis and show that its photosynthetic incompetence is due to an inability to deliver protons to the Q[sub B] anions. They also report the isolation and biophysical characterization of a collection of revertant and suppressor strains that have regained the photosynthetic phenotype. The compensatory mutations that restore function are diverse and show that neither Glu-L212 nor Asp-L213 is essential for efficient light-induced electron or proton transfer in Rhodobacter capsulatus. 42 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

OSTI ID:
5295753
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; (United States), Vol. 90:19; ISSN 0027-8424
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English