1. Capturing the sequence of events during the water oxidation reaction in photosynthesis using XFELs
- Author
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Philipp S. Simon, Hiroki Makita, Isabel Bogacz, Franklin Fuller, Asmit Bhowmick, Rana Hussein, Mohamed Ibrahim, Miao Zhang, Ruchira Chatterjee, Mun Hon Cheah, Petko Chernev, Margaret D. Doyle, Aaron S. Brewster, Roberto Alonso‐Mori, Nicholas K. Sauter, Uwe Bergmann, Holger Dobbek, Athina Zouni, Johannes Messinger, Jan Kern, Vittal K. Yachandra, and Junko Yano
- Subjects
Evolutionary Biology ,Biochemistry & Molecular Biology ,manganese metalloenzymes ,splitting ,Lasers ,Biophysics ,Water ,Photosystem II Protein Complex ,photosystem II ,Cell Biology ,Biochemistry ,Oxygen ,Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry ,water-oxidation ,Structural Biology ,oxygen evolving complex ,X-ray spectroscopy ,Genetics ,X-ray free-electron laser ,water-oxidation/splitting ,Biochemistry and Cell Biology ,Photosynthesis ,Oxidation-Reduction ,Molecular Biology - Abstract
Ever since the discovery that Mn was required for oxygen evolution in plants by Pirson in 1937 and the period-four oscillation in flash-induced oxygen evolution by Joliot and Kok in the 1970s, understanding of this process has advanced enormously using state-of-the-art methods. The most recent in this series of innovative techniques was the introduction of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) a decade ago, which led to another quantum leap in the understanding in this field, by enabling operando X-ray structural and X-ray spectroscopy studies at room temperature. This review summarizes the current understanding of the structure of Photosystem II (PS II) and its catalytic centre, the Mn4 CaO5 complex, in the intermediate Si (i= 0-4)-states of the Kok cycle, obtained using XFELs.
- Published
- 2022