Search results for "Photosynthesis"

Studies on the mechanism of photosystem II photoinhibition I. A two-step degradation of D1-protein

1990

The role of D1-protein in photoinhibition was examined. Photoinhibition of spinach thylakoids at 20°C caused considerable degradation of D1-protein and a parallel loss of variable fluorescence, QB-independent electron flow and QB-dependent electron flow. The breakdown of D1-protein as well as the loss of variable fluorescence and QB-independent electron flow were largely prevented when thylakoids were photoinhibited at 0°C. The QB-dependent electron flow markedly decreased under the same conditions. This inactivation may represent the primary event in photoinhibition and could be the result of some modification at the QB-site of D1-protein. Evidence for this comes from fluorescence relaxati…

Studies on the mechanism of photosystem II photoinhibition II. The involvement of toxic oxygen species.

1990

In a previous paper it was shown that photoinhibition of reaction centre II of spinach thylakoids was predominantly caused by the degradation of D1-protein. An initial inactivation step at the QB-site was distinguished from its breakdown. The present paper deals with the question as to whether this loss of QB-function is caused by oxygen radical attack. For this purpose the photoinhibition of thylakoids was induced at 20°C in the presence of either superoxide dismutase and catalase or the antioxidants glutathione and ascorbic acid. This resulted in comparable though not total protection of D1-protein, photochemistry and fluorescence from photoinhibition. The combined action of both the enzy…

Changes of the Quantum Yield of Oxygen Evolution and the Electron Transport Capacity of Isolated Spinach Thylakoids during Photoinhibition

1992

Summary Isolated spinach thylakoids can be protected from photoinhibitory loss of electron transport capacity by the radical defense system composed of the enzymes SOD and catalase, as well as the antioxidants glutathione and ascorbate. With these compounds present at saturating concentrations, thylakoids not only retain a high photochemical capacity but also do not suffer D1-protein degradation during photoinhibition. However, a strong decrease in the quantum yield of oxygen evolution, Φ O 2 , occurs with the same thylakoids. These results support the view that the photochemical capacity and the quantum yield of oxygen evolution decline due to different mechanisms during photoinhibition. T…

Biomimetic model of a plant photosystem consisting of a recombinant light-harvesting complex and a terrylene dye.

2002

Red Spectral Forms of Chlorophylls in Green Plant PSI - A Site-Selective and High-Pressure Spectroscopy Study

2003

One of the special spectroscopic characteristics of photosystem I (PSI) complexes is that they possess absorption and emission bands at lower energy than those of the reaction center. In this paper, the red pigment pools of PSI-200, PSI-core, and LHCI complex from Arabidopsis thaliana have been characterized at low temperatures by means of spectrally selective (hole-burning and fluorescence line-narrowing) and high-pressure spectroscopic techniques. It was shown that the green plant PSI-200 complex has at least three red pigment pools, from which two are located in the PSI-core and one, in the peripheral light-harvesting complex I (LHCI). All of the red pigment pools are characterized by st…

Enhanced electron-transfer properties of cofacial porphyrin dimers through pi-pi interactions

2009

pi-pi assisted: Photoinduced electron transfer from cofacial porphyrin dimers to electron acceptors is prominently accelerated, whereas the back electron transfer is decelerated, relative to the corresponding porphyrin monomer (see figure).The radical cation of zinc tetrapentylporphyrin is dimerized with an excess of the neutral counterpart to form the dimer radical cation in which the unpaired electron is delocalized over both porphyrin rings. The dimeric radical cation exhibits an NIR absorption spectrum characteristic of weak pi-bond formation between the porphyrin rings. When cofacial porphyrin dimers, linked by different spacers, are oxidized such pi-bond formation between the porphyri…

Development of the photosynthetic apparatus during light-dependent greening of a mutant of Chlorella fusca.

1977

The formation of chlorophyll, cytochrome f, P-700, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase as well as photosynthesis and Hill reaction activities were tested during the light-dependent greening process of the Chlorella fusca mutant G 10. Neither chlorophyll nor protochlorophyllide was detected in the darkgrown cells. When transferred to light the mutant cells developed chlorophyll and established its photosynthetic capacity after a short lag phase. In the in vivo absorption spectra a spectral shift of the red absorption peak position from 674 to 680 nm was indicated during the first 3 h of greening. Cytochrome f was already present in the dark-grown cells, but during the greening phase a threefol…

Quantum dots functionalised artificial peptides bioinspired to the D1 protein from the Photosystem II of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for endocrine disr…

2021

Herein we describe the design and synthesis of novel artificial peptides mimicking the plastoquinone binding niche of the D1 protein from the green photosynthetic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, also able to bind herbicides. In particular, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to model in silico the behaviour of three peptides, D1Pep70-H, D1Pep70-S264K and D1Pep70-S268C, as genetic variants with different affinity towards the photosynthetic herbicide atrazine. Then the photosynthetic peptides were functionalised with quantum dots for the development of a hybrid optosensor for the detection of atrazine, one of the most employed herbicides for weed control in agriculture as well …

Extending the infrared limit of oxygenic photosynthesis

2014

A proposed quantum mechanics mechanism for (e−, h+) charges separation applied to photosynthesis and energy production efficiency improovement

2009

Based on concepts in semiconductor band gap engineering (the staggered one), a qualitative model is proposed for the first step mechanism in artificial catalysis and natural systems such as photosynthesis in green leaves.