The groups of Genji KURISU at Osaka University’s Protein Research Institute, in collaboration with Matthias RÖGNER of Bochum University, have used high-resolution x-ray images of photosystem I obtained at Osaka University’s beamline at the RIKEN’s synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8 to visualize how electrons obtained from water are transferred to photosystem I protein through the thylakoid membrane circuit and on to the last recipient, the electron carrier protein ferredoxin, which in turn empowers various enzymes. T team found that ferredoxin binds to photochemical system I and asymmetrically changes the structure of photometric I trimer only when it binds. The structure of photosystem I was altered in a cohesive fashion, and the binding of cytochrome, another electron carrier protein, was coordinated with the binding of ferredoxin.

JST news release, April 3, 2018